A Dragon's Test
by Scroll-2
Summary: Continuation for Return of the Dragons (Which you must read first!) Haven't you ever been curious as to why none of the dragon slayers were able to stop any of the dragons at the Grand Magic Games? Well, now that they've got some to ask, they do, and don't get the answer they're expecting. And how on earth are the fairies involved?
1. Scroll-1

**Hi everyone! This is here to continue the story from Return of the Dragons (Hint: you need to read this one first!) It starts a little slow, but I hope you enjoy!**

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><p>It was just like any other morning in the guild of Fairy Tail. A few tables were either on the wrong side of the building or flipped over. Various members were scattered around the hall, having been too drunk to walk themselves home the night before. Considering that it was now almost 10 o' clock, it was time to wake them up and get them out. And so, Mirajane, Grandine, and Erza went around doing just that.<p>

"Elfman, it's time to get up." The snow-haired bartender lightly shook her younger brother, who had gotten knocked out in one of the previous fights. He grumbled something that almost sounded like 'five more minutes' before rolling onto his other side.

"Elf-nii, don't make Nee-san mad." Lisanna warned from her stool at the bar where she was drinking a chocolate milkshake. She had decided it would be better to watch the three women wake up the other guild members from a safe distance away. It was a good decision on her part to, because Elfman didn't even need her warning to feel the sinister aura coming off of his older sister. In moments he was on his feet and working to help move table and chairs back to their original places, not that they would stay there if another fight started.

Mirajane simply gave him a sweet smile, completely masquerading over the demon that was his motivator. "Thank you, Elfman." She walked lightly over to the next drunkard, letting her brother continue cleaning.

By that time, Erza had already managed to get three people awake and they were either walking home or resetting furniture. "I want this place spotless!" Her voice shook another couple of members awake, causing them to also assist in the cleaning. And then there was the last one, Grandine.

Not only was she angry because several of the male members, who had been too drunk to remember who she was, had been just a _little_ too friendly last night, but also because she didn't get a wink of sleep. Since Mirajane had been tending the bar, it was Grandine's job to make sure that none of the drunks choked on their own vomit while they were passed out. Even though she knew that she wouldn't get any sleep when she accepted the job, she was still cranky. The two people, whose table she had walked over to wake them up, would regret that fact.

"Igneel! Metalicana! Wake the hell up!" Grabbing tangles of orange and gray, one with each hand, she slammed their heads together with a satisfying CRACK. Their reaction wasn't something the pink-haired dragon expected. They just mumbled, replacing their foreheads on the wooden table while sloppily moving their arms to try and cover the spot that got rammed into the other dragon. "I said: Wake up!" She yelled while smacking her palms down on the table, causing glasses to shake and a few cracks to appear in the wood. Okay, now they woke up.

"Geez, don't be so loud. What time is it?" The fire dragon asked, slightly slurring his words together as he raised his head and back so that he was almost sitting all the way up, facing the pink-haired woman who was causing all the racket. Metalicana didn't even bother responding and just kept his head down on the table, trying to recover from a hangover he got from his drinking contest he had with Igneel the night before. It was a new thing for him because dragons didn't feel the effects that alcohol had on humans, so they neither drank nor got hangovers. But now that they were humans, they did. Since the two of them had been drinking long into the night, no one paid attention to who drank the most, so a winner remained undesignated. However, that wasn't the primary concern at the moment.

"It's 10 o'clock in the morning. You two have been here all night, so now you have to help clean." Grandine hissed at the dragons who were suffering hangovers. "Both of your sons are out on jobs right now, not being lazy bums like you two." She smacked the side of Metalicana's head, making sure he was paying attention. "Now _get up_." Even though she had quite a bit of anger in her voice, the iron and fire dragons didn't move.

"It's not our fault we can't go out on jobs. A, we're not members of the guild, B, we barely have any magic because we haven't been in this world as long as you, and C, the sad excuse for a doornail sitting next to me is still recovering from being in prison. It's only been, what? A few days since we got back?" Despite the pounding in his head, Igneel was able to come up with a reasonable explanation as to why they had just been hanging around Fairy Tail. Unfortunately, it was true, they really couldn't go on any jobs, but Grandine had a solution for that.

"Well then, go get a regular job in the town or something." The pink-haired dragon didn't look like she was angry at the other two anymore. "Magnolia's pretty big. I'm sure that someone needs hired help somewhere." After a few moments passed with no response, she became slightly irritated. "Okay, now you actually do have to get up so I can at least clean the table." The fire dragon nodded and shoved his drinking partner off the edge of the wooden bench, causing him to land on the floor with a solid _thump_.

Igneel nearly fell on his face when he tried to stand up, but he managed to get steady himself before he moved over to Metalicana, who was snoring lightly._ 'How in Earthland is he still asleep? I mean, I knew he was a heavy sleeper, but really?'_ The orange-haired dragon simply shook his head and bent down to grab on of Metalicana's arms. He then began to drag the iron dragon to the other side of the hall, away from the woman who interrupted their sleep. "Man! Were you always this heavy?" Igneel gasped when he realized he couldn't pull his friend more than a few inches._ 'No, of course not. You used to be an adult dragon, weighing several tons.'_ He thought to himself bitterly.

Luckily for him, right at that moment, Gajeel, Levy, and the rest of Team Shadow Gear, came in to the guild hall. "Hey, Gajeel!" He called, grabbing the iron dragon slayer's attention. "He's your problem now!" Before he could be caught, the fire dragon made his way out the door faster than a criminal making a break for it. He knew he shouldn't have forced his iron eating friend onto his son, but he _really_ didn't want to deal with Metalicana when he woke up and realized he had a headache.

"Ah! How nice the fresh air feels!" Igneel exclaimed as he stretched his arms over his head. He'd been to a lot of places, but he decided that Magnolia was definitely one of the best, with friendly people and clean air to breath. He let out a sigh. _'Why did you have to be right, Grandine?'_ He knew that the two of them shouldn't be just hanging around Fairy Tail, but he didn't know what else they could do. It was hard enough convincing the dragon slayers that they wouldn't disappear while they were out on jobs. And to tell the truth, they had tried to get jobs in the town, but they didn't last very long, mostly because the dragons had never done jobs before. Metalicana ate all the visible metal and Igneel ended up burning something, without even using fire!

Not to mention the crazy 'dragon enthusiasts' who kept trying to talk to them. Igneel swore that he was going to punch the next one that asked him to show them some of his magic. Usually people stayed away from dragons, but now that it was common knowledge that they had been turned into humans and were at the guild Fairy Tail, they wouldn't be left alone ever again. _'I just hope this day doesn't get any worse.'_ He thought to himself, shortly before running his head into the light post that was there to do just that, make it worse.

"Aw, dangit!" Igneel yelled softly, bringing his hand to his nose to make sure it wasn't bleeding, sniffing a few times. It was then that he smelled something that he recognized. _'Natsu and his friends are back.'_ He started walking toward the origin of familiar aromas.

He caught sight of them when he turned the corner in front of Fairy Tail. Even though he was far away, he was able to catch snippets of their conversation. "I can't believe we had to give back over half the reward money because of damages!"

"It was Natsu's fault for burning that library."

"But that was the only way to keep the guy from escaping! And at least I actually did something, unlike you, Stripper!"

"I was busy making sure the rest of the town didn't go up in flames, you pyro!"

"Be quiet all of you! Natsu, Grey, you're going to come with me to explain what happened to the Master. Do you understand?"

"Hey look! It's Igneel!" Happy yelled, interrupting the conversation that was going on between his teammates. The cat and his corresponding dragon slayer ran forward to meet the other fire eater and, partially, to escape a certain armor mage.

"So, how was the job?" Despite having heard part of the conversation and being able to figure out most of what happened, Igneel wanted to hear Natsu tell his story.

"Well, first, the order was to catch a guy who had been robbing banks, so when we got there-Ow!" Erza had the hair on the back of his head locked in a death-grip and had begun dragging him towards the building.

"I told you. You, Grey, and myself are going to explain to the Master what happened before he learns it through someone else. You can tell your father afterwards." Natsu stretched out pleading arms as he was forced into the building where punishment was waiting for him. The fire dragon just shrugged and followed them in, sitting down at the bar while the three of them went to the Master's office.

Igneel sighed and let his head thump on the table. His hangover finally caught up to him. Or was it a new headache from running his head into a pole? It didn't really matter, all he knew was that his head hurt. There was a sudden flash of heat behind him, but it didn't have any malice in it, so he didn't bother turning around. A squeaky voice let out. "Igneel-sama! I'm bored!" Just great. Another headache to deal with.

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><p><strong>Aw, poor them. I guess it's hard to adjust to being human after being a dragon for so long. Oh well! Read and Review!<strong>


	2. Scroll-2

**Hi everyone! Sorry for not getting to update sooner (I'm pretty certain that school is one of the most time-consuming things ever) Oh well! Here is Ch2!**

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><p>"You're here in Fairy Tail, so why don't you just do what they do? Go start a fight if you're bored." Igneel answered his little fairy, not even bothering to turn his head, which was still plunked down on the table, around. His headache caused him to not even think about the consequences of telling Flam that.<p>

She huffed lightly as she crossed her small arms. "Fine! I will!" A few second of silence passed over. "Hey! Natsu!" Igneel could hear the fluttering of her wings as she flew over to the fire eater with pink hair. He and his stripping teammate had come out of the Master's office with looks of relief on their faces, glad that they had escaped the chopping block.

The fire dragon groaned inwardly. _'She can't be serious.'_ He slowly brought his shoulders and head off of the bar before sliding off of the stool, following the little fairy. _'If they fight...'_ There weren't any good ways to end that thought, so he didn't even bother. When Flam first started talking to him, Natsu seemed a little surprised.

"Natsu, do you think you're pretty strong?" In the most adorable voice ever heard, the little fairy asked her question while floating in front of the dragon slayer's face. At first, Natsu was a little puzzled as he cupped his chin with his hand to think.

"I guess so. I mean, when Gajeel and I fought against Sting and Rogue we won." His voice trailed down slightly. "Besides, I just need to be strong enough to protect my friends." He finished off by showing his signature grin to Flam, who nodded in understanding. Then she showed a grin of her own, but there was the smallest bit of mischievousness in it.

"How about we have a little contest? Your dragon slayer magic against my fairy magic. They're both fire type." The sweet little fairy inquired, while looking like she would never be able to take on the famous Salamander from Fairy Tail. A few of the bystanders closed in, wanting to hear more of the conversation. Igneel shot Natsu a look, warning him to not accept the challenge. Unfortunately, Natsu either didn't see the expression, or didn't understand what it meant, and just grinned at the fairy.

"Sure!" Flam nodded and smiled in response, then looked around the guild hall.

"We should probably move some where outside though. I don't want to cause any unnecessary damage to Fairy Tail." She fluttered her wings as she flew toward the large wooden doors that were the entrance to the guild. Natsu followed her, along with several other guild members, which included the dragons and Cana, who was already taking bets on who was going to win.

It was decided that the group should go as far away as Fairy Hills so that no citizens of the town would get injured if the magic got out of hand. As they walked up the hill, Metalicana leaned his head close enough to Igneel so that he could ask his question without being heard by anyone else. "You do realize that he's gonna get his ass handed to him, right?" The iron dragon whispered to his orange-haired companion who just sighed.

"This is a good spot. I use it for testing new armor." Erza had led them to an area of Fairy Hills that was far enough from the building so that it wouldn't be damaged, but close enough so that they could get back quickly if anyone was hurt. It was an open field with short cut grass and only a few trees scattered around. The spectators gathered together near the largest tree while the participants stood 15 feet away from each other. Well, one was standing, the other was floating in the air.

A sudden flash of scarlet flames around Flam covered her as she metamorphosed into her larger, adult form, shocking the guild members who'd never seen it. Though her large wings beat steadily, she remained on the soft ground while a warm smile lay on her lips. Natsu, realizing that she was going to fight seriously and remembered what happened to her last opponent, got into a defensive stance and ignited his hands. Igneel's eyes widened slightly in realization. _'Wait a minute, I don't think I've ever seen anyone defeat Flam.'_ He simply closed his eyes and prayed that his son wasn't stupid enough to get himself killed by the fire fairy.

"Are you ready, Natsu?" The winged redhead asked with an amused tone in her voice, as if she had already won the fight. The fire dragon slayer barely had time to nod in response before the fairy begun her attack.

Before any of the spectators saw it, Flam was already behind Natsu and prepared to punch him with a grin on her face. The pinkette got out of the way only milliseconds prior to the fairy released her arm, brushing her knuckles across his face.

Natsu took several steps back before noticing a stinging sensation on his cheek. "Ouch! What the-" Even though her hands had no fire on them, they were hot enough to scorch Natsu's face by barely making contact. _'I have to be careful.'_ He couldn't see it, but he could tell that her magic was powerful, far beyond his own. When he glanced over toward the guild members who were watching the fight, he noticed that some of them were sweating and having trouble breathing from the heat. It took only seconds for the fire fairy to notice as well.

"Here's an idea. Why don't we fight without magic?" Flam's wings slowly dissipated into the air while her hair seemed to grow dim. Faster than anyone could react, she charged at Natsu and when she attacked him, her hand...passed?...through his chest. Now, it's not like she made a hole in his chest with her hand, that would be messy. No, it was more that her hand became no longer solid and simply slipped through.

Natsu doubled over and coughed toward the ground, his eyes wide. He felt cold and hollow, almost shivering from the shock. _'What was that? What did she do?'_ His mind was hazy and his eyes creating double vision weren't helping. He glanced over his shoulder to see what the fairy was holding in her hand.

Flam had a grin on her face when she looked down at the small orb-like ball of flame that was flickering slightly in her hand. Natsu felt a chill race down his spine when he finally figured out what had happened. Most of the time, he was pretty slow at figuring things out, but this was pretty important. The fairy's magma eyes slowly traced down until they met the ones that belonged to the fire dragons slayer. "Fairies gave humans magic. Is it that big a surprise that we can take it away?" The way she spoke indicated that she did not expect an answer.

She turned her head to face the spectators of the fire fight. "Hey, Blondie! Catch!" Barely giving Lucy time to react, Flam tossed the flaming orb to her. The celestial mage had to jump up in order to catch the ball with both hands. When she landed, she opened up her hands so that the rest of the guild members could look over her shoulders and see what was there.

"Is that really all there is to Natsu's magic?" Grey didn't like to admit it, but he thought Natsu was pretty strong in his own right and thought it was odd that all of his magic simply took the form of a little ball of flame. Because everyone was busy asking the question themselves, no one was able to answer him.

_'It's so warm.'_ Lucy thought as the small orb floated in her open hands.

"Hey, Natsu! Are you ready to fight again?" The fire fairy asked the boy who had begun to stand up, still slightly hunched over. Natsu, not really known for being the sharpest knife in the drawer, decided that he was and grinned in response, thinking that he could somehow defeat a fairy without any magic. Sadly, he was wrong.

He did, however, manage to keep the fight going for a few minutes. Well, the 'fight' was pretty much one-sided, Natsu attempting to hit Flam while she either blocked his strikes or, far more often, simply moved out of the way. "C'mon! You're never going to hit me if you're that slow!" The fire fairy, who was clearly starting to become bored, yelled toward the pinkette. It wasn't that Natsu was weak, he'd fought people without using magic before. It was just that Flam was too strong.

_'Alright, I'm gonna hit her with this last punch.'_ Natsu thought to himself as he noticed that he was growing too tired to keep the fight going for long.

The fire fairy just sighed as he charged in, not even having to guess what move he was going to throw. _'Igneel-sama, I would've hoped Natsu was stronger than this. Maybe this is because you two were separated when Natsu was too young? I do not know. Humans are such strange creatures.'_ She lightly jumped into the air, letting the fire dragon slayer run past her, right before she slammed her heel into the back of his head, causing his face to sink into the ground at least three inches. Before she even touched the ground, Flam disappeared in a puff of smoke, only to reappear shortly afterward as the little fairy that was in guild earlier that day.

"Ah, Lucy! You don't have to hold onto that anymore. Here, I'll give it back to Natsu."

With a flick of her wrist, Flam called the little orb to fly past her and disappear into Natsu's back, seconds before Lucy's scream pierced the air. "It burns!" She dropped to her knees and was quickly followed by her friends who were trying to see what was hurting her. Her hands turned scarlet as severe burns appeared on them.

"Here!" Grey, despite being an ice mage, knew a little bit about how to deal with burns. He covered his hands in small ice crystals before laying them on top of Lucy's burned ones in an attempt to prevent any more damage to her skin. The blonde mage sucked air quickly through her teeth from the shock of the cold, but was able to eventually relax a little.

It took only seconds for Wendy to prepare healing magic on her hands. "Grey-san, can you please move out of the way?" It wasn't really a question, but the ice mage nodded his head and removed his ice encrusted hands, revealing Lucy's burned ones. The air dragon slayer brought her hands up to Lucy's to heal them, but nothing happened. "Why isn't it working?" She asked out loud, worried that she wasn't able to help her friend.

"Healing spells don't work on wounds caused by contact with pure magic." Igneel walked around until he was in front of the celestial mage who was still sitting on the ground, kneeling down to be eye-level with her. He was holding white bandages that Grandine had given to him and started talking as he begun to wrap up her hands. "This won't help much, but it should keep them from getting infected." Lucy nodded, noticing that he didn't seem surprised that she was injured from holding the magic.

"Eep!" The fire dragon accidentally pulled the last of the bandages just a little bit too tight around the girl's burned palms. Without even looking up, he reached into his back pocket with his right hand and pulled out a silver case that was slightly bigger than a deck of cards.

From the small case, he pulled out a small stick that looked a lot like charcoal that artists would use to draw a picture. "Here, chew on this." Despite the fact that it didn't look at all like something a normal person would chew on, Lucy trusted Igneel and figured that he was the most experienced when it came to dealing with burns, so she let him place the small piece of charcoal in her mouth. "It will help the burns heal." With that last sentence, he stood up and moved out of the way to allow the other guild members help Lucy stand up.

"We should be heading back. The sun has almost set." The Master said, catching the attention of anyone who had forgotten he was there. Metalicana walked over to Natsu, pulled him up out of the ground, and slung him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, nodding to the old man. Following Erza, the entire group quickly made their way back to Fairy Tail, either silent or trying to help Lucy.

Igneel stopped a few steps from the entrance to the guild, sniffing the air. _'Those two magics don't normally mix, so why am I smelling them in the distance? Oh well, I'll deal with it later.'_ A few seconds passed. _'Wait a minute. Where'd Flam go?_'

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><p><strong>That's it for now folks! I'm not sure why, but I didn't really like this chapter...hm... I hope you guys did though! Till next time!<strong>

** (If anyone cared, it's the same metal case he brought with him to go fight Goliath. It had ****_I.G._**** on it.)**

**Oh! Now I get it, it's because I didn't mention Happy! Please Read & Review!**


	3. Scroll-3

**Hi everyone! Happy Valentines Day! I hope you enjoy Chapter 3!**

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><p>"Don't worry, Mira. They're pretty much healed now." Lucy told the anxious Take-Over mage. It was true. A few days after the fight between Flam and Natsu, the celestial mage's hands had healed to where they were only a light pink with small, silvery scars around the edges that were barely noticeable. She had told the same line to her fire-eating friend earlier that day to convince him it was alright for him to go out on a job, which is what Erza and Grey had been trying to do. It took quite a bit of convincing.<p>

_'Those charcoal sticks helped a lot. I wonder what they actually are?'_ She thought as she walked toward the entrance to the guild hall. The stars were twinkling and the moon was high in the deep, sapphire sky when she opened to doors to head home for the night. As she carefully walked along the edge of the canal, ignoring the worried words from the fishermen, she remembered the day that Flam fought Natsu. More specifically, when they got back to Fairy Tail.

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><p>Flashback:<p>

"Natsu! Lucy! Grey! Erza! What happened?! Where were you guys?!" Shouted Happy, who took only seconds to fly from where he was sitting on the bar to floating in front of his friends. The azure cat's eyes were wide with worry when they caught sight of his pink-haired friend slung over the iron dragon's shoulder. No one had thought to look around for Happy, mostly because they assumed he was with Natsu or just somewhere in the crowd.

"Don't worry, Happy. Natsu's just asleep and Lucy's hands got a little burned." Igneel's words didn't really help the blue cat relax, but the did enough to stop the flood the questions as Happy flew over to Lucy. A few guild members started whispering to each other, but no one wanted to be the one who asked how Lucy got burned.

Erza's eyes narrowed at the fire dragon's use of the word 'little' to describe Lucy's burns, considering that they were pretty severe. _'Well, I guess they might be little, compared to what he's seen.'_ She thought after remembering who he actually was, the flame dragon king. Thinking of dragons… "Oh, Metalicana, you can just put Natsu on one of the bed's in the infirmary. He'll probably wake up soon." The iron dragon nodded and followed Wendy, who was taking Lucy there to see if she could heal her hands anymore.

Shortly after the small group made their way through the small wooden door at the back of Fairy Tail, the snow-haired barmaid walked over to the armor mage with worry on her face. "Erza, what happened?"

The woman with the scarlet hair let out a sigh. "Unfortunately, I, myself, am not sure. He is the one that I think we should ask." Erza turned toward the fire dragon, whose expression showed that he knew he was going to have to explain what happened. He let out a small sigh.

"If anyone wants to hear more about what happened, follow me." Igneel led those who wished to be informed into the Master's office and closed the door behind them. "Flam seems to have got back to wherever the fairies disappeared to." The fire dragon said to no one in particular.

"So, Igneel…" The iron dragon slayer started. "It looked like Flam pulled the magic right out of Natsu. Care to elaborate on that a little?" His tone wasn't angry, but it was strong enough to indicate that he expected an answer.

The orange-haired dragon leaned up against one of the bookcases and crossed his arms. "Yes, she did pull it out of him. Fairies had magic long before humans did, longer than even the dragons, and have always had the ability to take it away." Mavis, who had apparated into the room at some point, nodded in agreement as Igneel continued. "Technically, she could do that to any kind of mage, but because Natsu uses Fire Dragon Slaying magic, it was much easier." Satisfied, Gajeel doesn't pursue his question any further, which was a good thing, because someone else had another one.

"Igneel-san, what about the burns on Lucy-san's hands?" The small air dragon slayer had sneaked her way into the room without being noticed by anyone who was taller than her, which pretty much left the exceeds. Her brown eyes, full of wonder about what had hurt one of her dear friends, locked with the dragon's magma ones that seemed to be tired years beyond his face.

He chuckled as a small smile crept across his face. "Well, that one's a little harder to explain. Like I said earlier, the flame Lucy was holding was made of pure magic, making any burns created by it impossible to heal with spells. To tell the truth, it was a miracle that she was only burned that much. Usually, when someone tries to hold pure fire magic, they're lucky if they have any arms left." The bitterness in his voice helped anyone who was trying to hold back any laughing.

"Hey, Matchstick." Metalicana stuck his head through the door only seconds after Igneel finished speaking. "Your brat's awake." With a small nod, the fire dragon ended his explanation to go check on how Natsu was doing after having his magic pulled out.

"Why is it so cold in this room?!" The pink-haired dragon slayer wasn't quite on the point of shivering, but he was trying to warm himself by rubbing his arms. The sight was a little unnerving to some of his guild mates, who always thought of Natsu as being _too_ hot. Noticing the strange looks his friends had on their faces, he decided to ask about it. "What's the matter?"

"Don't you think it's a little odd that you're _cold_, Natsu?" Sure, Grey himself hadn't been cold since he was a little kid, but he definitely knew that Natsu, the person who likes to eat fire, shouldn't be. Reading the dumb expression that was the pinkette's response, the ice mage figured that, no, he hadn't thought about it. At all. _Sigh. 'What an idiot.'_

"Don't worry. That should wear off after a little while." Grandine's solemn voice cut through the air in the infirmary. She hadn't been doing much, just leaning against one of the walls with her arms crossed. "There's not really much that can be done about it. You'll just have to wait til your magic resettles itself." She didn't like not being to help her patients, especially when it was one of her closest friend's child.

"With all that energy he's got, it should only take about half a day." Igneel had walked quietly into the room with a smile on his face, happy his son was recovering so quickly. Natsu grinned and waved at his father, seemingly forgetting that he was cold for the time being. The fire dragon chuckled to himself. _'Yep, That's Natsu for you.'_

"Igneel-san," The orange-haired dragon turned to face the small voice that came from behind him. "When do you think Lucy-san's hands will heal?" Everyone in the room except Natsu and Wendy paled in an almost comical way, fearing what would happen if the fire dragon slayer learned that it was his magic that hurt one of his comrades.

Luckily, the fire dragon was able to quickly snap out of it. "Probably in a few days. Sooner if she keeps eating the pieces of charcoal. Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me." Igneel reached into his back pocket and pulled out the small silver case. "She can hold onto this as long as she needs to, okay?" Having understood the 'Go give this to her.' part of the fire dragon's statement, Wendy took the case from him and walked out the door toward the celestial mage.

"Uh? Is Lucy hurt?" What happened?" Igneel had the sensation of someone dragging a cold blade up his spine when he heard Natsu ask his questions. He didn't dare turn around, not wanting to have the pinkette see the panic on his face.

_'Even if I try to explain, Natsu will just blame himself. If I don't, it'll just delay the problem.'_ The fire dragon's thoughts were racing through his head at a mile a minute. Thankfully, the other pinkette in his life was prepared for it.

"Don't worry Natsu. Lucy's hands just got a little burned at the fight earlier." Grandine's voice softened as she explained to the fire dragon slayer that his friend wasn't seriously hurt. Natsu, however, wasn't very convinced, but he knew he wouldn't get anymore information from asking again. "Come on everybody, we should probably let Natsu rest now." Allowing everyone to walk in front of her, the air dragon closed the door as she was the last person to leave the room.

Letting the humans walk ahead of him, Igneel waited to speak to his pink-haired friend. As he turned to face her. "Hey, Grandine. Tha-"

She cut him off by placing one of her slender fingers on his lips. "Don't thank me. I only bought you more time. It'll be your neck on the line when he figures out what actually happened." Grandine walked away quietly, leaving her silenced friend with his own thoughts.

"Argh! This is so _boring_!" Natsu, not used to either being told to rest or staying in one spot for too long, was already tired of being stuck in the infirmary. _'Screw this. I'm gonna go figure out what happened to Lucy.'_ Being out of the ordinary for his usual character, being quiet, he snuck out of his room, successfully escaping the infirmary. "Now, to find Lucy." He sniffed the air around him until he locked onto the one that belonged to the celestial mage. Even though the guild was filled with all kinds of different people, Natsu was always able to pick out everyone individually.

Running around behind the bar, Natsu caught sight of the blonde talking to the Stauss sisters about something that was worried the two of them, but not her. Using his almost super hearing, he tried to catch what they were talking about.

"So, wait… Can you explain that again please, Lucy?" Lisanna asked, trying to understand what actually happened while everyone was on the top of the hill earlier that day.

_Sigh_. "I already told you. Flam and Natsu were fighting and somehow, she pulled his magic out of him. It was a little ball of flames. Before I knew it, Flam had tossed it to me and I was holding it in my hands. It felt really warm and gentle." Though very few were able to see it, a small smile crept onto the blonde mage's lips. "Well, gentle till she pulled it away to give it back to Natsu. I didn't even realised I had gotten burned until it disappeared into Natsu's chest."

The fire dragon slayer's onyx eyes widened and he moved out from his hiding spot. "What did you say Lucy?" _'She was burned by my magic...'_

End Flashback

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><p>Lucy let out a sigh as she reached the door of her apartment. <em>'Poor Igneel. It took him three tries to pin Natsu to the ground and calm him down.'<em> The lock to her apartment clicked quietly as she opened the wooden door. She half expected Natsu to be sitting on her bed with the window wide open, but then remembered that her teammates were out on a job in a nearby town. _'They'll probably be back tomorrow.'_ After a quick shower and change of clothes, the celestial mage made her way to bed, _'Yeah, definitely tomorrow…'_ And slowly drifted off into the realm of dreams.

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><p>"Hey, Rogue," Elsewhere, just outside of the town of Magnolia, a completely different blonde mage was on the move. "Do you think they're even going to talk to us? Let alone answer our questions?" Sting asked his dark-haired friend, who had a tendency to be a soft-spoken person.<p>

"I guess we'll just have to see. No harm in asking." The shadow dragon slayer's solemn expression remained unchanging. His friend let out a sigh.

"Yeah, that's if we don't get kicked out before we even get a chance to talk to them. You know how those fairies are." Since it was so late at night, their exceed companions were already asleep and curled up on a rock. Sting scratched the back of his head. "I think we're gonna have to wait till tomorrow anyway. They definitely won't talk to us if we're knocking on their doors in the middle of the night." He looked up at the shining moon. _'Yeah, definitely tomorrow, we'll get our answers.'_

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><p><strong>Yeah, I know. I'm sorry, most of the chapter is a flash back and the story did really advance anywhere, but I wanted to have that scene in it for some reason. Please don't be mad :( I hope you enjoyed it any way, even if nothing really happened.<strong>

**Oh yeah, this story does have a little more pairing than the last one, but I'm not even gonna try writing romance (it's not my thing), so you might just see little things here and there. 'Til next time (be sure to read and review!)**


	4. Scroll-4

**I have no words... I have no excuse... I should be punished... Here is Chapter 4**

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><p>*Next Day*<p>

_Yawn_. "Why is the sun so bright? Did I sleep in too long?" Lucy wondered out loud as she rubbed her eyes to blink out the sunlight that was snaking through the windows. Her chocolate eyes slowly shifted to her pink alarm clock. _'Hm, that time doesn't seem right. Oh well, I'll just head down to the guild.'_ After sliding out of bed and performing a quick change of clothes, the celestial mage grabbed her keys and headed for Fairy Tail. Humming to herself as she carefully teeter-tottered on the stone wall next to the canal, the celestial mage wondered if her friends had returned from their mission the day before. Her excitement grew when she heard the shouting coming from inside the hall._ 'They're definitely back.'_ She didn't have to even open the door before she could figure out what was going on inside.

"HAPPY! GET DOWN HERE!" A certain...sinisterness?... in the voice led Lucy to understand that her red-headed friend got up on the wrong side of the bed that morning. And a certain blue feline was making it worse.

"EEP! Natsu! Erza's being scary!" Happy definitely sounded scared and seemed to be somewhere in the air above the ground level of Fairy Tail.

"Ha Ha! I'm not surprised! I'd be scary too if you took some of my cake!" The familiar voice of the fire dragon shouted up to the terrified exceed. Igneel was clearly enjoying whatever was going on far too much.

"Hey, Happy! The sooner you come down, the less angry Erza will be." Despite Gray's words of advice, the blue cat already knew the fate of his doomed self and decided to just avoid it as long as possible.

Elfman, supposedly after seeing a look of fear on Happy's face, "Facing your fears is manly!" chose to shout up some of his own words of advice.

Lucy smiled brightly._ 'It's nice to know everyone's so happy.'_ Well, she couldn't account for everyone, but she had the feeling that her pink-haired friend would be excited to be back. Taking a breath and shutting her eyes, the celestial mage pushed open the large wooden doors to the guild. When she opened her eyes, she wasn't the least bit surprised by the scene that was taking place.

Happy, the current center of attention, was flying high near the support beams of the building's roof in circles. Down below, most of the guild members had their heads turned upward to watch the cat. However, a few of them had become more involved with the situation. Elfman was standing up on one of the wooden tables, ignoring the warning glare from his older sister. Erza, Gray, and Natsu were standing on another table, Erza giving off murderous intent that looked like a demon forming behind her. Natsu was trying to convince Happy to come down while Gray was trying to calm down the armor mage. It was then that Lucy saw the cause of the problem, the small piece of strawberry cheesecake with a bite mark on it. And the matching, incriminating crumbs on Happy's face.

Lucy let out a small sigh. _'Why did Happy think that was a good idea? Oh well, maybe I'll ask later.'_ She put on her bright smile. "Hi guys! Good to see you're back!" Most of the guild members stopped watching the spectacle to face their blonde guild mate and flash her a smile with a wave. Her four friends, who were the main part of the show, ran over to meet her. Well, the one who caused it all was flying.

"Lucy!" The ball of blue fur crashed into her face. "Save me from Erza!" Happy whispered into her ear, hoping that the armor mage would forget about him, but asking for her help just in case. Lucy smiled uncertainly, but continued to hold the azure cat.

"So guys, how did the job go?" After figuring out the the show was now over, most of the guild members moseyed around, going about their own business, like finally leaving for that job they were planning on doing at some point. The group went over to one of the tables that had managed to not be thrown yet that day. Levy, excited to see Lucy, followed the group, bringing with her the rest of Team Shadowgear and Gajeel. Igneel went over as well, curious as to what his son was doing while out on a job.

Erza decided to start the story, taking the advantage of no one else starting yet. Since the incident with Happy ended only moments earlier, no one really wanted to argue with her about it. "Our goal was to catch some bandits who had been terrorizing the town, stealing from traveling merchants and such. So we set up a simple trap, having one of us masquerading as a traveler and lead the bandits into an ambush."

"And it would have worked too," Gray said, taking his chances cutting Erza off. "If Natsu hadn't gone off on his own to take care of the bandits. Thanks to that, we're not allowed to return to that town again. _Ever_." He seemed depressed as he said the last sentence. "I liked it there too. It had a nice, temperate climate."

"Are you crazy, Stripper?! It was the middle of winter. With a blizzard going on!" Natsu yelled across the table at his raven-haired teammate. "I thought they could use a bit of summer. It's not my fault the entire forest caught on fire!"

Igneel smiled sheepishly and sweat-dropped._ 'I guess I'll have to re-teach him that lesson on self-control at some point.'_ He thought, wondering if it was something that he actually needed to do. He liked Natsu being a little unpredictable.

Lucy let out a sigh. "Natsu, lighting something on fire is not the solution to most things. Hey! Are you even listening?" She was only seconds away from hitting her friend on the side of his head to get his attention when she saw the look on his face. It had a mixture of surprise and anger and a few other things that Lucy couldn't find words to describe. "I-is something wrong?" Her friend was usually loud with things he didn't like, him being silent unnerved her.

"Hey, Gajeel. You recognize that stench?" A few eyes wandered over to the iron dragon slayer, only to find that he shared the expression Natsu had.

"Yeah, but why would they come here? The Games have been over for weeks, months." Only those who remembered the fight between the four dragon slayers figured out who they were talking about. The others just sat there, curious.

The orange-haired dragon leaned over toward Grandine, who had walked over to the group at some point, and whispered. "Should I know who they're talking about?" The air dragon simply waved him away with her hand, not really finding answering his question to be all that important.

Moments later, the large wooden doors opened, revealing two people who _definitely_ did not belong to the guild. Sting and Rogue stood in the doorway with their exceed friends standing near their feet. Their faces didn't show any signs of wanting to make trouble, more like they've just been scolded for something, but no one in the guild trusted them anyway. "We've been told that there are three dragons here. We want to speak with them."

The silence in the guild was scraping against everyone's ears as they waited with anticipation for what was going to happened next. Nobody moved. Well, Igneel and Metalicana were moving around to both get a look at the two people who came in, and not get caught doing it. They weren't stupid. They understood the air in the room, full of distrust and hesitance, and knew that it probably wasn't a good idea to be trying to get a look at who had come asking for them. The only person who saw them, with curious expressions on their faces, attempting to catch a glimpse of the two mages who came into the guild, was Grandine. She said nothing, figuring that they'd find out who they were by their scent or someone would tell them later.

"Why are you-" Natsu started, but was promptly cut off.

"You two smell like Weisslogia and Skiadrum. Is it possible that you're Sting and Rogue?" Igneel had stood up and was walking around the table to get closer to the two members of Sabertooth. With wide eyes and hesitant nods, they responded. Lector and Frosch whispered quietly to each other, worried about how the man with the orange hair knew who their partners' parents were. Noticing the worry on the two dragon slayers' faces, the fire dragon chuckled lightly. "Don't worry. My name is Igneel. I knew you parents for several centuries before you were born." His comment allowed the room to relax slightly, but not for very long.

"Why are you two here?" Metalicana, being as impatient as he was, wanted them to get to the point as quickly as they could. He was having a nice relaxing morning in the guild and now these two came in and threw a monkey wrench in it all. "You said you wanted to talk to us. Now's you chance." Slightly taken aback by the iron dragon's abruptness, the holy and shadow dragon slayers sent looks to each other before they began speaking.

"We came to ask about what happened at the Grand Magic Games." The blank expressions that Igneel and Metalicana were showing Sting let him know that they had no clue what he was talking about. The guild members who were there when it happened felt their skin prickle, having an understanding now on what they were going to ask the dragons. "Well, what happened was someone used the Eclipse Gate for time travel and brought dragons through it from centuries ago." Now the two slayers had the complete and undivided attention of all three dragons. "We fought them, but couldn't kill a single one. So, we're dragon slayers, but couldn't even stop one dragon." The pleading expression on his face screamed one word, and one word only. _"Why?"_

Igneel sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Yeah, Atlas Flame mentioned something like that a long time ago. I wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but now it makes sense." His eyes narrowed as he cupped his chin with his hand as he thought. "So you're wondering why, even though you're dragon slayers, you're not able to actually kill any dragons." It looked like even Igneel was having difficulty figuring the mystery out.

"But that makes sense. Weisslogia and Skiadrum were too young to be teaching humans during the Dragon Civil War." The air dragon had finally made her way into the conversation that everyone, regular mages and dragon slayers alike, were listening to.

"But what about us? We weren't able to stop any of the dragons either." Gajeel took the opportunity to ask the dragons a question of his own.

Okay, the fire dragon looked confused before, but now he looked _really_ confused. He turned his head up toward his iron eating friend. "I knew you were tough, but I would've figured that Gajeel was old enough by now."

Metalicana just looked annoyed. "Yeah, he is, but I haven't gotten a chance to do it yet." Now it was the iron dragon slayer's turn to look confused. He wanted to ask what they were talking about, but one of the fire eaters got to it before he did.

"Eh? What are you talking about? What's he old enough to do, but not me?" Gray figured that Natsu wasn't actually curious as to what they were talking about, but rather he was just upset about being excluded. Lucy and Happy, who had been lost from the beginning, were moving their heads in time with each other as they watched everyone started talking over each other, trying to figure out what they were talking about.

Grandine let out a sigh. "This is why no one tries to explain this to five people at once. If all of you quiet down for a moment, I'll explain it for you." After being completely ignored for a few moments… "I SAID BE QUIET!" And that is exactly what everyone did before scurrying away to find a seat to listen to the air dragon explain something that the other two couldn't figure out how to. "Thank you. Now, before I begin, I want to make something clear. By definition, no one in this room is a true dragon slayer."

Igneel and Metalicana shared perfectly timed face-palms. _'Great. Just great. Because it wasn't already confusing enough.'_

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><p><strong>My only hope is that the plot twist is enough to keep at least one person reading.<strong>


	5. Scroll-5

**I apologize in advance, there are several boring explanations in the future (and in the past a little with the last chapter) Well, here's Chapter 5**

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><p>Not one person in the guild spoke as they eagerly waited for the air dragon to explain the complicated matter of her definition of a 'dragon slayer'.<p>

"Okay, first, I'll explain why regular magic doesn't work against dragons." Even the Master, who had come out of his office when Sting and Rogue showed up, was curious to hear Grandine's explanation of the matter. "All magic works with vibrations. When they're two different speeds, they clash, causing damage to one side or the other. This is why creating a Unison Raid is so difficult. You need to be able to match your partner's vibrations exactly or you could both end up dead. A magic's vibration speed has almost no correspondence with the power of a spell. For example, Ice Make has an incredibly slow vibration speed, but is still powerful." Gray nodded, understanding that something cold would definitely be moving slower than something at a normal temperature. "Dragon magic vibrates exceedingly quickly, giving little chance for any other magic to slip in between and break it apart, which is why it's so difficult to break dragon scales." Her ruby eyes slid over to a certain pinkette. "That's also why dragon slayers appear to be overflowing with energy. Their magic is moving around so quickly that it seems like the world is moving in slow motion to them."

"But why is it like that? Why isn't it like any other magic?" Lucy asked with her brown eyes wide. The pink-haired dragon smiled at the celestial mage's question.

"That actually goes back to when dragons were constantly fighting each other over food and land. Of all the creatures that use magic, dragons are the only ones who consume their own element to replenish their power. The faster they're able to take that energy and use it, the more likely they're going to win and live to see another day." She let out a light sigh, eyes glancing over to the other dragons in the room. _'Those were the days, huh?'_

"Can we get on to our problem at some point?" Gajeel asked roughly, shortly before being elbowed in the ribs by the petite bluenette sitting next to him.

"Be patient!" The small girl scolded the large dragon slayer. She tried to look angry, but it wasn't working very well.

'Aw, she's so cute when she's mad. Wait. What? Ow!' Gajeel snapped out of his thoughts after being smacked on the back of his head by the older iron eater.

"Pay attention, boy. Maybe you'll learn something if you try real hard." His dark eyes, which were previously narrowed toward his son, softened and looked back up at the pink-haired dragon. "You may continue." A thin smile pulled at his rough face as he gestured for his friend to do as he said.

With a smile of her own in return, the air dragon resumed her explanation. "Thank you. Now, dragon slaying magic is unique. It wasn't made by humans nor was it ever intended to be used by them. Because of that, it is extremely unstable. It's vibrations are faster than regular magic, but slower than a dragon's and it's constantly changing, creating motion sickness when you're riding something that doesn't have living magic. Only a mature dragon slayer has a consistent vibration for their magic and no motion sickness." You could almost see the slayers eyes sparkle at the prospect of no motion sickness. "However, becoming a mature dragon slayer is something that is virtually impossible after the Dragon Civil War." Even though the guild couldn't get any quieter, at that point it seemed to be silent beyond what was natural. "You need a dragon of the same element to permanently change the magic inside of you. Not only is it difficult, but also pretty dangerous. I knew a few dragons who accidentally killed their children because they were too inexperienced to try to do it."

The dragon slayers and their friends, which was pretty much everyone in the guild, visually tensed. Sting and Rogue's eyes widened as they looked at each other. "But what about…" The blond mage started, but didn't have the heart to finish.

"Don't worry about saying the rest. I know exactly what happened to Weisslogia and Skiadrum." Igneel said as he stood up, surprising and worrying the two Sabertooth dragon slayers. His voice was so steady that they couldn't tell is he was angry or not about them killing their dragon parents. "Both the holy and shadow dragons weren't even alive when the Dragon Civil War was being waged. They were far too young to attempt anything like trying to adjust your magic, but they wanted you two to be strong enough to survive on your own." He let out a sigh and closed his eyes. "Bathing in a dragon's blood is a way to get stronger and with their situation, that was their only option. However, that also means that you two will never be able to become true dragon slayers unless you find another pair of holy and shadow dragons who are willing to help you. None of us here are able to do it for you. I'm sorry." The fire dragon's apologetic and sorrowful expression caught the two slayers by surprise, but they nodded in response.

"It's better that we at least understand now. Thank you for your time." Rogue said at last before slowly turning on his heel and walking toward the large wooden doors that led into the guild, followed by first Frosch, then Lector, and finally Sting, who waved sadly as the doors closed. The silence they left behind in the guild was prickling at everyone's skin. No one wanted to be the one to break it, for reasons they could not explain in words. Of course, there is always that one person who still wants to know more.

"How does the changing of the magic work?" Wendy asked with bright brown eyes full of curiosity.

"Y'know, that's a good question. I don't know." An evil grin appeared on Igneel's face as he turned toward the iron dragon. "But that's okay because it's Metalicana's turn to explain something." The grey-haired dragon's facial expression moved from surprise to anger at an impressive speed.

"Hell no! I probably know less about it than you do!" Metalicana was now standing only inches from the fire dragon, who had a sly smile on his lips. It was then that the two of them shared an idea.

In time with each other and matching bright grins, the iron and fire dragons turned to their air using friend. "Your turn again!" The two of them attempted to escape before they could be forced to stay and explain something that they _really_ didn't feel like explaining. Well, there's a reason that 'attempted' was the word choice.

Because the pink-haired dragon had known that her two friends weren't exactly going to want to take any part in explaining something that complicated, she prepared a chair, which she ended up throwing at the back of Metalicana's head. "Oh no you don't! Get back here!" The large dragon fell and managed to run into Elfman, who then ran into Cana's barrel of beer, which she had stopped drinking to listen to the explanation.

"Elfman!" The card mage, in the quest of vengeance for her beer, placed a powerful kick into the Take-Over mage's ribs, sending him toppling into another table. Unfortunately for him, that happened to be the table that Erza's new piece of cheesecake was living on. Well, not for very long after the table shattered into an uncountable amount of splinters, crushing the dessert. Of course, the scarlet-haired armor mage couldn't let Elfman get away with that. Before long, an enormous fight broke out, pulling in every member of Fairy Tail, excluding the Master, who was having far too much fun watching his children be themselves: trouble-makers.

"G-Grandine! W-wait!" Shouted the quite terrified fire dragon at the woman who had managed to finally corner him and his iron eating friend. Because of the dark aura surrounding her, Igneel figured that she either didn't hear him or didn't care about what he said. "It's all Metalicana's fault!" His final attempt at escaping earned him a look from said iron dragon. _'It's everyone for themselves, man.'_ He shrugged back. _'Oh shit...'_ He thought when he realised his back was now touching the wooden wall and there was no where for him to run.

"Hey, Grandine! Can you come over here for a second?" The barmaid called to her pink-haired friend.

"Sure, Mira!" The air dragon smiled in response and happily walked over, leaving the two male dragons as they breathed sighs of relief. Well, they would've be able to relax more if they hadn't heard the Take-Over mage whisper something about oweing her one. Of course, Grandine didn't actually forget about punishing them, but she figured that, when their sons would ask them about the changing their magic, that would be punishment enough. It was a painful decision to make. _'I know what Metalicana will do. Gajeel is definitely old enough to be tested, but Natsu is bordering on being too young. What will you do Igneel?'_ Her eyes drifted sadly toward the fire dragon who had escaped the corner and was having a cheerful conversation with the Master. _'Are the wounds from last time still too fresh?'_

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><p>*The Next Morning*<p>

Yawn. "What was that, Lucy?" Natsu asked, after the blonde mage explained the details of the job she had grabbed for them to do later that day, but was now reconsidering. The dragon slayer lazily rubbed his eye while Happy was curled up on top of his head, asleep.

_'Jeez... What did these two do last night?'_ Lucy wondering as she looked at her two friends with worry written all over her face. "Natsu, you don't look like you got any sleep last night. Are you okay?" Instead of answering her question, the pinkette let his head land with a thump on the table and started snoring lightly._ 'Idiot.'_ She thought before walking over to the bar where Igneel and Metalicana were sitting. Gray and Erza left for a job late last night in order to pay for some of the damages to guild during the fight. The armor mage had been the one to cause most of the damage, but she dragged along Gray because she wanted to make sure the job went smoothly so they could bring back as much of the reward money as they could. "Hey, Igneel. You got any idea why your son looks like he hasn't slept any of last night?"

The fire dragon turned his head to look past the celestial mage. "Looks like he's sleeping now. I guess this problem solves itself."

"Hey! Old man!" Gajeel's voice called over to the iron dragon. The slayer was walking up to them with Levy carrying Pantherlily following close behind. Lucy became concerned when she saw the worry on Levy's face as the girl tightened her grip on the small cat she was holding. Gajeel's determined expression sent a chill down her spine as she figured out exactly why the iron dragon slayer had come over to his father that morning.

Luckily, she wasn't the only one. "I'm no psychic, but I've got a feeling I know what you want to ask me." His dark eyes pierced straight through Gajeel. "You're old enough now but I'm not sure you're going to be able to handle my test. You need to go train for a while, maybe after you're stronger, I'll test you. My tests are tough and I really do want you to succeed so I'm gonna ask that you wait until you're able to handle it." He flashed an almost invisible smile to the small, blue-haired girl who had just then relaxed at hearing the dragon's words. The iron dragon slayer nodded in response, respecting the older man's words, but clearly looking disappointed.

"What about me then?" Lucy almost slapped Natsu in the face as a response to someone just randomly popping up behind her. Apparently recovered from his lack of sleep, the fire dragon slayer asked his question with his signature grin on his face.

Igneel didn't even turn his head when he answered his over-excited son. "No." Any happiness in Natsu's face drained away in an instant.

"Why not?" He wasn't whining or anything like that, but he had lost his energy, and it showed. He also didn't look angry, simply surprised.

The fire dragon's face remained unchanged, but he had now turned to face his son. "Because you're not ready yet."

"I'm almost as old as Gajeel, I'm strong, and I definitely want to do this." Natsu's face became serious with determination as he stood his ground against his father.

"Metalicana's criteria are different than mine." Igneel replied, clearly becoming more annoyed with his pink-haired son. It was then that Lucy became worried about being between the two fire users as things were beginning to heat up. (Yes, pun definitely intended.)

Natsu cracked a small smile. "How about this? If I beat you in a fight right here and now, you'll at least consider it." It wasn't usually like Natsu to be arrogant, but he really wanted to become a true dragon slayer. Also because he didn't want to have to deal with motion sickness anymore. _'This'll give me a chance to face Dad. I've haven't done that in, what, fourteen years?'_ Natsu thought as he anxiously awaited the response from the older fire-eater.

Igneel narrowed his eyes. "Alright, then. If that's what you want." He lightly stepped off of his stool and moved away from the bar while Natsu moved even farther away to stand across from him. A few people, who had been listening to the conversation taking place by the bar, turned to watch the fight between father and son. The fire dragon's expression remained unchanged as Natsu got into a fighting stance.

_'What a dumbass.'_ The iron dragon thought as he watched his friend not even get into a stance to face his son. _'I hope Igneel finishes it without hurting his kid too much.'_

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Natsu shouted, igniting his hand as he charged toward the orange-haired dragon, who had been looking downward, hiding his eyes with his bangs. Igneel didn't move even an inch until Natsu was only moments from punching him in the face. After quickly sidestepping the pinkette, the fire dragon roundhouse kicked Natsu in the head, sending him flying into a nearby wall with a loud SMACK.

The wood of the wall gained many new cracks that spread upward in a spider web-like pattern. The side of Natsu's head that was struck began to bleed scarlet as Natsu's eyes were open wide, staring off into space, parallel to the wall. Gajeel suddenly felt sick to his stomach when he realised that some of the cracking he heard wasn't from the wall, but rather Natsu's skull. While Igneel took a few steps toward Natsu, small legless dragons made of blood-red flames swirled around his feet. "This is your one and only warning." The victor raised his chin to reveal his blazing, magma-colored eyes. "If you approach me again on this matter, while you are still not ready, I will kill you."

After Natsu had been kicked into the wall, all the eyes in the guild had turned to face the pair and it was at that very moment that reality smacked most of them in the face. _'These three aren't humans. They never have been.'_

By the time Igneel had started speaking, Natsu's cognitive function had returned enough for him to hear what the dragon said. It wasn't that Natsu was upset about Igneel was mad at him, he'd gotten Igneel mad before, but that he was angry with Natsu. The dragon slaying boy had never seen his father truly angry before, but now he that did, it _terrified_ him.

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><p><strong>I'm sorry. I kinda made Igneel the bad guy :( I promise that it will all be explained though!<strong>


	6. Scroll-6

**This is the third of the triple-release... I don't know how this happened... Here's Chapter 6**

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><p>"Natsu! Stop squirming!" The air dragon nearly screamed into the ear of the patient she was working on. The younger pinkette flinched at her words, but ceased his moving for the rest of the healing, hoping that him not moving would help get it over with sooner. Grandine was angry because her fire eating friend's little "warning" terrified Wendy and it took her over an hour to convince the blue-haired girl that she would never do that to her. <em>'I'll explain it to Natsu later. Now that this has happened, he deserves to know.<em>' She thought as she resumed healing the side of the fire dragon slayer's head.

Natsu winced when the pink-haired dragon yanked out another one of the splinters from the side of his head. He had lost count at around 50. His defeated expression was painful for his friends to look at, so they glanced at an uninteresting spot on either the floor or the ceiling of the infirmary. Happy was unusually quiet because he was still in shock from what he had witnessed. His best friend always talked about his father in such a cheerful manner and when Happy had met the older fire eater, he seemed to match Natsu's stories. So the azure cat wondered. _'Did I really see that happen? Was that really the Igneel Natsu told me about?'_

He was not the only one confused. When Natsu was first defeated so brutally, even Erza had been speechless. Grey had gone over to help Natsu up after he collapsed against the wall, while glaring at the orange-haired dragon, who simply watched the ice-mage with his unchanging expression. The Master himself had to give warning glances to people who looked liked they were ready to go after the dragon. They didn't care if he was Natsu's father at that point, he had purposely hurt one of their own and threatened his life. It had been Metalicana to tell Igneel to "cool off" by taking a walk outside. Though the iron dragon didn't know it, his son had seen the fear flash across his face when the smaller dragon's eyes had turned up to meet his own. The old iron dragon hadn't seen that expression on his friend's face since a time he did not wish to remember or ever see again. Realizing that it probably wasn't a good idea to stay inside a building where an entire guild of mages was angry at you, Igneel left, walking into the bright sunlight of Magnolia that seemed to oppose the dark aura coming from the fire dragon.

"Alright, that's enough for now. I believe I got all of the splinters out, but if you find another one, come to either myself or Wendy and we'll take it out for you." Granding told Natsu as the blue healing magic surrounding her hands dissipated. It had been about an hour since the air dragon started, but she wanted to make sure that she completely healed the pinkette's head. "Just try to not get hit in the head again today, okay?" She smiled at the boy, trying to cheer him up. Natsu smiled back and nodded, but everyone could still tell that he was shaken up by what happened, and they couldn't blame him. You don't usually get sent flying into a wall after being kicked by your dad who happens to be a dragon. You just don't.

The air dragon stood up, leaving her patient who still sat cross-legged on the white sheets of the bed. "I'm gonna go check and see if anything needs to be taken care of outside." After receiving an nod from the armor mage, Grandine left the Infirmary, closing the door quietly behind her. "Hey, Metalicana." She asked, her voice barely louder than a whisper, not wanting to draw any unnecessary attention from the guild members who still weren't very accepting of the scene that had taken place. "Did you know where Igneel went?" Her grey-haired friend shook his head.

"All I know is that he isn't in here anymore." The largely built man answered as his eyes traced the edge of the room, noting the people who were still glaring at them. "Sorry, I'm not that helpful. I just wanted to make sure he didn't take his anger out on anyone else. People here have a tendency to start fights without any reason, let's not give a real one to them." The crimson eyed lady nodded in response. "I'm a little worried about that Matchstick, he's not very good at listening to advice." Concern was a rare expression to see on the iron dragon's face, but it was definitely showing signs of his for his friend.

"I'll come back after I make sure he's okay." Grandine stated finally before walking toward the guild doors, followed by a trail composed of wisps of cool air that danced behind her. Several pairs of eyes softened as they watched her walk by. This had not been her fault, there was no reason to be angry at the women who had worked hard to heal their injuries over the years. The silence that consumed the guild after the large wooden doors creaked shut seemed to be suffocating. These recent days with the dragon's around had been difficult, and there didn't seem to be any end in sight.

_'Where did you go, Igneel?'_ The fire dragon had disappeared and left behind no scent trail, a skill he learned many years ago and had not forgotten. Grandine looked left and right, but didn't see any traces of her orange-haired friend. She tried to use her magic to find him with the air, but there were so many people in Magnolia, she couldn't tell which one was Igneel. Stranded without any leads, the air dragon had no choice but to pick a direction and start walking to search for her friend.

The sun began to set, turning the sky's bright blue into a sea of indigo and sapphire that forsaken clouds roamed silently. Quiet breezes floated through the empty streets of the town that was full of life earlier that day. Well, the streets were not completely empty. A woman in a white dress with long, pink hair still wandered through the city. 'Could he have left Magnolia?' She wondered, just before remembering the one place she had yet to check. 'He has to be there.'

The salty sea air caused the grass around the fire dragon to bend back with grace, not a bit of resistance to the unstoppable force. He stood in silence as he watched the golden orb, that supplied all the energy in the world, go to rest for the next day behind the ocean.

"Igneel." He refused to turn his head, unable to look into the blood-red eyes of the person who had come to find him. She let out a sigh. "I finished pulling all the splinters out of Natsu's head a little while ago. I would have been finished earlier if he didn't keep squirming." In the few moments of without words, the gentle blow of the wind seemed deafening. "You know, he's not angry at you. He's confused, but not angry." It appeared that the air dragon's words finally reached the ears of their intended target, instead of continuing to fall on deaf ones.

The fire dragon began to turn his head to face Grandine. "I know, it's just-_COUGH! COUGH!_" As he clutched his chest with his left hand and fell to one knee, droplets of blood escaped the lips of the orange-haired dragon. _"Agh!"_ His eyes and teeth were tightly clenched shut as blood continued to drip off of his sharpened fangs.

_"Igneel!"_ With the speed of the wind, Grandine ran to him and dropped to her knees. She gently placed one of her hands, glowing with blue healing magic, over his on his chest and wrapped her other one around his shoulder. "This is what I warned you about after you first came to Fairy Tail. A human's body can't handle the stress of your fire magic. That includes the strength you used to kick your son into the wall." She tightened her grip on his shoulder and shut her eyes. "Don't be destroyed by the anger you hold for something that cannot be changed." The fire dragon did not respond, he simply allowing himself to be healed in silence.

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><p>The large wooden doors of the guild opened, revealing the soot-black sky that was dotted with shining stars. Most of the guild members had gone home because it was late at night, but a few still remained, some cleaning the guild, others drinking. The air dragon walked in and made her way toward the bar where her grey-haired friend was chomping down on one of the old spoons. "Hey, Grandine." Her scarlet eyes flicked to meet the iron dragon's black ones. "Is Matchstick alright?"<p>

She let out a sigh and closed her eyes. "His wounds are healed, but I can't do anything about his pride or stupidity."

Metalicana chuckled. "Got that right. Those are gonna be his downfall." The iron dragon continued to laugh as the air dragon glared daggers at him, not finding his comment very funny.

"Grandine!" She whipped her head around to face the voice that was calling her name. "Do you know where Igneel is?" Natsu was running toward her with Happy flying close behind and his friends walking quickly in order to keep up.

A noticeable amount of worry flashed over the pinkette's face when he got closer to the air dragon. _'Did I get some of Igneel's blood on me? Is that what's making him worry? I'm such an idiot.'_ Grandine almost smacked herself for being so stupid, but now was not the time. She drew in a deep breath. _'Alright, here it goes.'_ "Sorry, Natsu. I don't know where he is right now, but I have something to tell you." Her eyes looked over the rest of the people who had come over with him. "You probably want to hear this too." She turned her head to face the Master as he sat up on the balcony of the second floor. "Master, do you mind if we use your office for a few moments?" After receiving a slightly drunken nod, the air dragon led them into the small office, having Grey shut the door.

"There is nothing to excuse Igneel's actions this morning, but I'm hoping to put it some more context for you." She locked eyes with the fire dragon slayer. "First of all, it was not you that he was angry at, but rather himself. Turning someone into a true dragon slayer brings back some bad memories for him." Her crimson eyes began to drift downward, leaving behind a curious expression on the boy's face.

It was Lucy who assumed the worse scenario from the words of the pink-haired dragon. "D-Did he accidentally, you know…" She didn't want to finish her question, worried that it could be true. Even though it wasn't completed, in the moment before the air dragon answered, cool snakes slithered down the spines of Natsu and his friends.

It actually took a little while for Grandine to figure out what the blond girl was talking about. "Ah, no. No, that's not it. Igneel is an old dragon and I taught him how to change the magic myself. He would not make such a mistake. No, this goes back to the time of the Dragon Civil War. Our side, the ones who wanted dragons and humans to live together, was losing, so we started teaching humans Dragon Slaying Magic in hopes of turning the tide. Igneel taught a man no older than Erza by the name of Ivan Griskowitz." A small smile tugged at the corners of the air dragon's mouth. "He was eager to learn and always full of energy. After his magic was changed and he was able to fight, he was a exceedingly powerful ally." Grandine was no longer smiling and the air in the room gained a chill as her eyes turned a darker shade of blood-red. "It was after the war that the problem began. I'm sure you've heard of the few dragon slayers that are the reason their magic has such a gruesome name, the ones who started killing dragons no matter what side they were on. Unfortunately, Ivan was one of them." The silence in the room was so alive it was like it was ready to tear apart anyone who dared to move. The air dragon let the information soak in before she continued, starting off again with a sigh. "He killed several powerful dragons who had fought on our side of the war. He also killed some who had refused to take part in the conflict. Igneel, of course, felt responsible, and set out to correct his mistake. He was forced to burn to the ground something he had once nurtured and cared for. That is the reason for his agitated response to your eager desire to be tested earlier. Igneel is afraid of having history repeat itself because it does far too often, not because he specifically thinks you're going to turn out the same way." The pink-haired dragon hoped that her story offered at least some consolation to Natsu.

The fire dragon slayer thought for a while before raising his eyes to meet Grandine's. "Thank for telling me, but I'm still going to ask Igneel until he agrees to test me." A warm smile spread over the air dragon's lips.

"You do that. I've got to warn you though, he's pretty stubborn." An air of happiness lifted that darkness out of the small room. Of course, not wanting to waste such a perfect set-up…

"Like father, like son, I guess. This flame-brain's pretty stubborn too." Grey chuckled as the person who he made the jab at turned around to face him.

"What did you say, Ice Princess!?" Natsu shouted, as he became ready to start a fight there and then. Grey was not helping by preparing his magic too. Erza and Lucy were enjoying themselves watching as the two friends' argument became more and more physical. Well, until Erza noticed something.

"Wait! Don't damage the Master's books!" Sadly, her warning came too late.

Now it was Grandine's turn to be amused as she watched the group of mages try to fix the either burnt or waterlogged books. _'You've got nothing to worry about, Igneel. Sure, he's a little clumsy and needs some more self-control, but so do you.'_

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><p><strong>Alright, I know that there was a lot of confusing stuff explained in these three chapters, so if something's unclear, just say so and I'll try to reword it better<strong>

**Oh yeah, don't worry, Igneel's not going to die. (And yes, it's the same reason he was coughing up blood when he first arrived at Fairy Tail with no external injuries)**

**And before anyone asks why Natsu uses the same magic and can handle it, it's because Natsu has been using the dragon magic with a human body for many years, his body's used to it. Igneel hasn't been a human for very long, so his body can't handle the level of magic he's used to using.**


	7. Scroll-7

**Well, I be back. Um, I feel like there's something I want to say, but I can't remember what it is so, here's Chapter 7**

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><p>The rest of that night had been rather uneventful. Erza and Lucy made sure that the boys explained the situation of the books from the office being damaged. The Master was moments away from punishing them, only to be stopped by Grandine who used the opportunity to reiterate the story to the Master, feeling that he too should know about Igneel's first son. Speaking of the fire dragon, only one person knew where he was, somewhere no one was going to look for him. He had decided against returning to the guild, concerned about stirring up dust that had just barely settled.<p>

"Natsu!" The pink-haired boy jumped at the armor mage's voice and banged his head on the table he was scrubbing underneath, causing him to mutter a curse under his breath. "What was that?!"

"Nothing!" He shouted back, hoping that his friend would leave it at that. Luckily for him, she went to go bother Grey, who had also been put to work scrubbing the floors, their punishment, which the Master did not forget to give them. Almost all of the guild members had gone home already, excluding Grey, Natsu, Erza, and Grandine, who was helping Erza make sure another fight didn't start. Happy had fallen asleep only moments into the scrubbing, so Lucy took him to her house. The white-haired barmaid warned them to make sure that there wasn't a single bit of dust when she came back the next morning. _'What's the point? No one cares about dust being on the floor.'_ He thought to himself, not daring to complain out loud.

He grumbled and look back down to the floor at a small pile of dust. _'This is your fault!'_ Moments before the fire dragon slayer violently swept the dust away with his wash-cloth, a warm breeze drifted by, gently picking up the pile. Like a serpent slowly growing thicker, the stream of air went underneath and around all the tables, picking up more and more dust as it flew past. Both Grey and Erza had stopped to watch the display of grains that floated through the air, unnoticed on their own, but beautiful when brought together.

"That's enough of that. Don't you think?" Grandine asked with a caring smile on her face. It was already late and she didn't want them to be forced to stay the night in the guild hall sweeping the floors. Her pale hand flowed like a conductor's baton through the air as she guided the dust out through one of the open windows, disappearing into a transparent silhouette against the bright moon. "Let's go home and get a good night's sleep. We never know what tomorrow will bring." Her smile seemed to gain hints of telling and slyness in it, but no one was really sure if that was what they saw.

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><p>"Happy, it's time to get up." The celestial mage attempted, unsuccessfully, to rouse the sleeping feline. She had thought that at some point, Natsu was going to come by and take him home, but apparently, that was not the case.<em> 'Maybe they're still sweeping the floor.'<em> She considered, making a face when she remembered that one of the most feared women in Fairy Tail was forced to stay up all night with them. _'Maybe I should make sure I don't irritate Erza this morning.'_ Finally, Happy woke up, mumbling something about fish as he rolled to his other side and curled up. "Well, whether you're awake or not, I'm carrying you to Fairy Tail." Without waiting for a response, the blond mage scooped the cat into her arms and left her apartment, bound for their guild.

Just as she caught sight of the large building, the wooden doors were trust open by the body of someone who supposedly lost in the current fight and was thrown out by accident. _'Are they at it already?'_ She thought with a sigh when she got close enough to hear some of the shouting. There was no surprise when she turned the corner and saw the inside of the guild, tables, chairs, and magic flying around inside and the lucky few who were standing by the bar and not part of the fighting. Not yet, at least. Lucy couldn't see exactly who they were, but knew her best chances of surviving the day were to be standing with them. _'Alright, I just have to make it over there!'_ As soon as the thought crossed her mind, the hall seemed to grow longer and the projectiles faster. _'I'll never make it!'_ A small aura of depression drooped over the celestial mage as she looked downward.

The blue cat in her arms began to stir when she squeezed him a little too tight. "What's the matter?" He asked while using his small paw to rub the sleep from his eyes. The cyan feline didn't seem at all surprised that he woke up in his teammate's arms, only feet from a fight going on. "Hey Natsu!" The exceed suddenly burst into life, jumped out of Lucy's hands, and flew toward his friend.

"Ah! Wait!" The blond mage reached out, but it was too late to catch the flying cat. She let out a small sigh and hung her head. _'I guess I'll have to run this gauntlet by myself.'_ Dropping to one knee as if lining up for a track meet, Lucy prepared herself to race across the guild and not get hit by something along the way. _'Here it goes. 1...2...3!'_

At the shot of an imagined gun, the celestial broke into a run through the entrance of the hall. The first couple of feet, everything's fine. After that, things start to get hairy. Her first opponent, a wooden table that was chosen to be sent flying across the room. She was far too close and going too fast to stop her nose from smacking into the wood. Luckily, the wood was sliced to ribbons, moments before its meeting, by a set of sharp swords. Though she was relieved, the blond mage didn't get the chance to even take a breath before the next thing was sent for her, shards of ice. This time, instead of being unable to stop, she couldn't move, paralyzed by fear as she watched the glinting fangs come closer to her. Inches from her face, a swarm of tarot cards flew by, shattering the pieces of ice into a fine glitter that floated toward the floor slowly. Hope filled Lucy when she realized she was only a few steps from the safe-zone, the bar. Time seemed to slow as the last couple of steps became longer and longer, to make up for the bar seemingly moving further and further away. _'Just a little farther.'_ Of course, nothing is ever that smooth.

_FWOOSH!_ An enormous billow of flame erupted behind the celestial mage, sending her forward with enough force to take her off her feet. "EEK!" She screamed as she closed her eyes and covered her face with her arms, in an attempt to not crash into the edge of the wooden bar. She was shocked when she didn't feel that she ran into the bar, but more like she ran into a person, knocked them over, and was now laying on top of them. In the moment before she opened her eyes, she thought. _'Whoever this is, they're really warm.'_ She physically tensed she she realized that there were only two people she knew who were warmer than the average person. She slowly opened one chocolate eye, snapping them both open when she saw she was staring right into the magma ones that belonged to the fire dragon.

He looked a little surprised, but not angry. While Lucy was still too scared to move, he started to become annoyed, crunching down on the stick of charcoal he had in his mouth. "Would you mind getting off of me?"

"Ah! Sorry!" She quickly scrambled off of the orange-haired dragon and stood up, offering her hand to help him up. He took it and hoisted himself up, mumbling some kind of thanks as he continued to walk by her. _'Great, just great.'_ She heard light chuckling behind her.

"Don't worry about it, Lucy. He wasn't looking where he was going either. He was busy with something else." Grandine pointed toward where Igneel had walked farther into the middle of the hall. "Take a look." A few of the guild members moved out of the way to see the two fire users standing across from each other.

"I'm gonna get you this time!" Natsu shouted with a huge grin on his face, showing off his pointed canines. It was then that Lucy noticed that Happy wasn't with him, but over with Grey.

Igneel had a matching grin on his face. "I'd like to see you try!" In both hands, he began to prepare balls of flame that glowed brightly. Natsu did the same. "Ready… Set…"

_"GO!"_ The two fire users shouted at the same time, seconds before they started throwing the balls of flame at each other. Because neither of them were particularly accurate, everyone in the guild had to dodge the flames that came their way. It was like watching two people dance as they maneuvered around the flames, sometimes taking one and throwing it back toward its summoner.

"I believe they dubbed this game 'fire dodgeball'." Grandine said with a smile. "They've been doing this all morning. I think at some point last night, Natsu found Igneel and they settled everything." She quickly ducked to avoid being smacked in the face by a fireball. "Or they're just being boys and this is how they solve their issues." The air dragon was clearly amused by the antics of the father and son team.

Lucy had burst out laughing at the last comment. "Yeah, that would make sense." She hadn't even noticed the iron dragon walk up to the side of the bar.

"Seriously, that idiot's got bipolar or something. He angry one day, but senselessly happy the next day." Metalicana grumbled, seconds before a ball of fire appeared out of midair above him and dissipated to reveal Flam in her child's form.

"Metalicana-san! That's not a nice thing to say." The petite fairy began to beat her small fists on the top of the large dragon's head, not really affecting him. Her bright eyes turned and saw the other two fire users still playing their game. "Eh?! They're playing fire dodgeball without me?" Not wanting to miss out on the fun, the fairy created little flames on her hands, so small that they were almost impossible to see. She flew over and began to throw them around as well, not really toward one person or the other.

The fight didn't last much longer after that. In the end, it was Igneel who won, trapping Natsu in a headlock on the floor. Though they were both panting and pieces of their clothes were scorched, they managed to end the fight grinning brightly at each other. Flam, who wasn't particularly tired, helped them get up and walk toward the bar where Natsu took a seat and Igneel let his head rest on the bar itself. Gajeel, Pantherlily, and Levy walked over toward the bar as well.

"Looks like you two had fun." Levy was smiling brightly, clutching the chapter of Lucy's book that she had in her hands, as if to protect it from the flames that had ceased flying. Natsu gave her a thumbs up, still panting from the contest.

Flam, who was now sitting on the back of the fire dragon's head, pondered for a few seconds, then looked up at Metalicana. "You said something about Gajeel not being strong enough to be tested, right?" The grey haired dragon nodded in response. "Then why doesn't he just train with Ferr for a little while?" Suddenly, a huge grin spread across the fairy's face. "That's a great idea! Ferr can train Gajeel, I can train Natsu, and Ven can train Wendy! It's perfect! They can all test together!" Her head snapped back and forth between the iron and air dragon, not caring about the dragon whose head she was sitting on. "How does that sound? No one besides me has gotten to see humans in _forever_!" Despite the fact she had an adult form, the little fairy certainly knew how to act like a child.

Grandine shrugged her shoulders. "Sounds good to me. I think if Ven helps her, she'll be able to pass my test." The blue haired girl, who had walked up behind the air dragon to hear more of the conversation, was so happy, she tackled her mother in a hug, surprising the dragon.

The fire fairy redirected her attention to the iron dragon in order to hear his answer. "Works for me. Just make sure that Ferr doesn't kill him before he gets the chance to be tested." Metalicana's small smile made it difficult to tell if he was being serious or not.

"Hey, Natsu! Does that sound good to you?" Flam asked, spinning around in the orange locks of hair to face the fire dragon slayer whose big grin answered her question before she even asked. "Alrighty then!" She bent her head backwards to look at the iron dragon upside down. "You should bring Ferr here. She's been _dying_ to see you again."

At first, the grey haired dragon looked a little surprised, but then simply shrugged. "Okay, it'll give Gajeel a chance to meet her before they go off for training." He glanced around at the inside of the guild. "We should probably do this outside." With a squeal of joy, the fire fairy jumped off of Igneel's head and sped toward the large double doors that were the entrance to the guild. The rest of the group and a few curious bystanders followed the girl outside, including Igneel, who was muttering as he tried to fix his partially singed hair from where the fairy's wings had gotten to close to the locks.

Once outside, the group created a circle with Metalicana standing at one side. "You guys might want to step back a little bit." He warned the people who had gotten to close out of curiosity. He took one of the old spoons that he had, crumbled it with his teeth, and placed the filings of metal on the ground in the center of the circle. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. _**"I summon you! Empress of the Iron Fairies, Ferrum!"** _The pile of metal burst violently into a column of sparkling, grey smoke.

The smoke dissipated to reveal the fairy summoned by the iron dragon. A lot of the guild members expected her to look like Flam, the only other fairy they had seen, but their expectations were quickly blown away. She reminded Lucy of Juvia, that time she was possessed by the heavy metal rocker. She had boots that were made of black leather and reached up to her knees. They were laced up with long string in the front and were studded with iron bolts. Her cut off, short jeans didn't really cover all that much of her legs, but her thin, black tights, that were torn in many places, attempted to. Her stomach was exposed and her bellybutton had a small sliver piercing in it. Black wrappings protected her breasts, leaving little to be imagined by the guys in the audience. She had a jeans jacket that seemed to have been ripped in half at the waist and had its sleeves torn off. Her jewelry consisted of a silver gothic cross necklace on a chain, heavy iron rings on her fingers, and three piercings in each pointed ear. She had her talon-like nails painted with a crimson that was so dark that it was almost impossible to see the red. The deep black of her short, unruly hair clashed with the gleaming white of her skin in the sun. Her wings were like that of a dragonfly, they were long, thin pieces of metal that stuck out behind her and vibrated so quickly that it looked like there were at least ten in each wing. If anyone was brave enough to get closer, the pieces would give them the impression that they were sword blades. Her tail was different from Flam's in that it was both longer, nearly six feet, and skinnier, no more than a two inch diameter at the base and tapered toward the end. It appeared to be made from plates of steel and was decorated with sharp barbs. A tongue licked her plum purple lips as she scoured the crowd with her dark sapphire eyes. "So," Her sinister smile showed sparkling and… quite pointy… teeth that sent chills down peoples' spines. "Who wants to play?"

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><p><strong>I'm not sure why, but I <em>really<em> like Ferr. (Yes, I know that Ferrum is technically a neuter word, but it worked so well.) Sorry Gajeel, you're in for a world of hurt.**

**I'm sorry if Igneel's return wasn't satisfactory, but I feel like Natsu's easy forgiveness and childishness comes from somewhere.**

**Till nest time!**


	8. Scroll-8

**Hi Everyone! I finally remembered what I was going to say last time: Ferr wears leather boots in honor of Metalica's 'Fairies Wear Boots'. Well, I hope you enjoy Chapter 8 :) (Sorry about the long break, my friend who helps me edit was on a trip.)  
><strong>

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><p>People shrunk away as they were approached by the fairy who looked ready to pounce, claws at the ready.<p>

"Well?" She asked with a sly smile. "Any takers?" She was summoned facing away from the iron dragon, so she hadn't yet seen him and was far too interested in looking at the humans to think about searching for his scent. She did, however, see something that sparked her interest. "Ooh! Shiny!" With a small hop, she lifted herself off the ground and floated in the air with her wings buzzing lightly. It barely took her a second to fly to Erza while her eyes were bright with excitement and a huge grin on her face. Still flying, she twisted and turned around the armor mage as her tail followed closely, trying to look at every single piece of the Heart Kruz Armor. "Wow, this is the best condition I've seen this armor in! And it suits you so well! Do you have any more armor? Oh, there's a little spot of rust here, but that can be cleaned easily." The other guildmates standing in the crowd relaxed when they saw the iron fairy's childish response to seeing Erza's armor. The scarlet haired mage herself, who had tensed up when the fairy flew toward her, relaxed as well.

The summoner of the fairy was not amused by her actions. "Ferrum! Get back over here now!" The fairy suddenly stopped circling Erza and slowly turned her head to face the iron dragon.

"Metalicana-sama!" She squealed with joy moments before she bolted towards him, almost slicing Grey's face with her tail as she flew by. Clearly, the grey-haired dragon didn't expect his fairy to come back to him quite so quickly, as he was barreled over by a woman who was a fraction of his size. "It's been such a long time!" She was now laying on his chest with her chin resting on her hands propped up by her elbows. Her legs were bent at the knees, cocked above her back while her wings, no longer buzzing, lay flat down along her spine. Her tail slithered through the air above her like a snake listening to a charmer's pipe.

While most of the people watching the scene were shocked to silence at how one fairy knocked down a large man and was now laying on top of him, Grandine tried to hide her smile with her hand while her fire-using friend was laughing out loud. "Be careful what you wish for, my friend!" He barely managed to get out as his iron friend glared at him.

The iron dragon let out a small sigh. "Can you please get off of me, Ferr?" She looked a little disappointed, but she nodded in response and hopped off of the dragon quickly, reaching out a hand to help him up afterwards. Flam, still in her small form, flew over to the iron fairy and sat on her shoulder, allowing her wings to dissipate. Metalicana, after brushing himself off from falling on the ground, was now standing facing the two fairies with his arms crossed. "Now, do you know why you're here?" Ferr thought for a few moments, cupping her chin with one hand, but came up with nothing, so she shook her head, almost knocking the fire fairy off of her shoulder.

"EEP! Be more careful!" The small fairy squeaked into the pointed ear that she was now holding onto. "You're here because we want you to help train Metalicana-san's kid so that he can be tested." Ferr nodded in understanding, a small smile crawling to her lips.

"Sounds like fun." After looking back and forth across the crowd for a few seconds, "Um, who is it?" Now, Gajeel wasn't hiding or even out of sight. He was standing in the front line of the crowd! The dragons and Flam hung their heads at the iron fairy's inability to tell that the guy with all the piercings was the son of the iron dragon.

Metalicana let out a light sigh. "Gajeel, come over here." The grey haired dragon motioned for his son to stand next to him, which he did without hesitation. The iron fairy looked a little surprised, but it was quickly masqueraded by her sly smile that retook its place on her dark lips. "I would like you to meat Ferrum. She is the one who will train you for my test. Ferrum, this is Gajeel." The introduction seemed short, but it definitely wasn't over yet. The black haired fairy jumped up and hovered in the air by fluttering her blade-like wings. She quietly flew over to the iron dragon slayer, going up and over his shoulder and swirling around him in a serpentine manner, as if she was inspecting every part of him. She took great care to not go so fast that her fire friend fell off her shoulder or that she hit Gajeel with her tail or wings.

After she 'finished' her inspection, she flew back toward the other side of Metalicana with a smile on her face. "Looks promising. Mind if I test his strength?"

The iron dragon shrugged. "Just don't break anything." It took him a second before he realised he should have been more specific with his instructions. "That includes Gajeel, the other people here, and private property. **Understand?**" Though the last word sounded threatening, the iron fairy certainly didn't interpret it like that.

She stuck her tongue out at him. "You're no fun. Well," She turned back to face the iron dragon slayer. "Are you ready?" Her sinister smile broke to reveal her bright teeth. "Or are you scared, Metalhead?" Ferr wasn't stupid. She knew the best way to win a fight was to make the other person lose their focus. And getting them angry was a great way to do that.

"Keh! Like you're one to talk about being a metalhead! Bring it on, Fairy!" Even though there was an air of playfulness in both voices, the Master, knowing that anything could happen while fighting, instructed the other guild members to move the citizens of Magnolia that had been draw by the commotion. Even the dragons moved back from the two iron users.

"As you wish, Human!" Just as her boots touched the ground after her wings stopped fluttering, Ferr bolted toward Gajeel in a full-out charge. Poor little Flam was forgotten in an instant and was holding onto the large fairy's necklace for dear life. Because the iron fairy was faster than the dragon slayer had assumed, he received a powerful kick to the chest, sending him into the stone wall of a town house. There had been a cart with bags in front of the wall. It was destroyed by Gajeel's body, creating a small cloud just large enough to make it impossible to see the iron dragon slayer. Ferr stood in the middle of the street and looked a little disappointed. "I thought that would be more interesting." She was just about to turn away to return to her dragon when…

_"Iron Dragon's Roar!"_ From the cloud of smoke, a cyclone of silver and grey shards of metal flew out, aimed right at the iron fairy. No one saw her move as the storm engulfed her, completely taking her out of sight. Not a single person dared to move in the silence as the plume of sparkling grey continued to swirl around.

_'That roar was slow. Why didn't Ferr get out of the way? Is she playing some kind of trick on us?'_ Igneel thought as he watched cloud slowly drift away. His magma eyes widened in horror. _'Oh no...'_

The fairy was still standing where she was before the attack, and had definitely been hit by it. She had turned so that was no longer facing Gajeel, like she was before the attack. Her wings weren't moving anymore, laying flat along her spine and her tail was coiled down by her feet. Her hands were clasped tightly against her chest, as if she was holding something she didn't want anyone to see. All around her back, the back of her legs, arms, and even her neck, shards of jagged metal stood out like spines and were surrounded by pools of blood. Some of them large enough to stream down toward the cobblestone street. Gajeel, who had staggered out of the wreckage and fallen to one knee, was covered in scratches and panting. He didn't even raise his head to look at the fairy. He could smell the blood anyway. Though he did glance up after hearing a small whisper. "Hey, Flam. You alright?"

The iron fairy pulled her hands away from her chest and opened them out in front of her, revealing the small fire fairy, completely unscathed. "Y-yeah…" She managed to get out, still shaken up from what happened. Once she realised remembered that there had been an attack, she jumped to her feet, created her wings, and floated around to look at Ferr's back. "But what about you?! Why didn't you dodge?" Flam almost looked angry at her iron using friend.

"If I tried to fly out of the way, you would've fallen off. The speed of the wind would have made it impossible for you to create your wings to fly away yourself." The iron fairy smiled and closed her eyes as she stretched her arms up over her head with her fingers interlaced. "And besides, this isn't all that bad." She turned on the heels of her boots to face Gajeel. "Well, kid. Ready for Round 2?" She took a few step forward, her dark boots causing ripples in the pool of blood that had gathered beneath her. Her grin had an evil accent underneath that made it look quite sinister. _"Iron Fairy's Blood Sword."_ An invisible force pulled the scarlet liquid off of the cobblestones and formed it into a ruby hilt in Ferr's right hand. Suddenly, the pieces of metal that were sticking out of her back, violently ripped themselves loose of the flesh they were dug into. One by one the pieces slowly formed a sword blade with dark red veins throughout the metal and fit perfectly into the handle the fairy was already holding.

Placing two hands on the grip and holding the blade in line with her eyes, pointed right at the iron dragon slayer, the fairy was ready to charge. "Here I come!" Not even using her wings, she sprinted forward, sword aimed right for Gajeel's face. For some reason, the fairy was even faster without flying and because part of the iron dragon slayer's chest was crushed from the kick, there was no way that he would get out of the way in time.

_'Damn...'_ He thought as he watched the tip of the sword come closer to his face with every long step made by the iron fairy. She had left her friend still floating in the air behind her and was now completely focused on running Gajeel through with her sword.

**"Enough!"** The scarlet tipped blade stopped millimeters from the dragon slayer's face. Metalicana's rough voice cut through the silence that had been created after the roar attack was released on the fairies. Ferr lowered her sword, shortly before jamming it into the ground between the cobblestones, an example of how sharp it actually was. She offered her hand to Gajeel, which he took and stood up, shortly before almost all of the members of Fairy Tail surrounded them.

"Here." Grandine said as she placed her hand on Gajeel's back, first causing him to tense, but once she started healing him, he relaxed. Wendy ran over to the iron fairy with her hands glowing with magic.

"Please let me heal you. You suffered severe wounds to the back." The fairy at first seemed surprised that the blue-haired girl had come up to her, but then smiled at her.

"Your kindness is wasted on me, I'm afraid. As you can see," She turned to show her back to the small girl. There wasn't a single sign that there had ever been wounds there. No blood, no tears in the fabric. "There is nothing for you to do." Wendy wanted to say something, to ask how her wounds had been healed so quickly, but the iron fairy walked away before she got the chance, not wanting to answer any questions.

"Good job. You managed to get a hit in against the feared Ferrum." The fire dragon told Gajeel, who looked a little shocked at hearing such praise, but said nothing, allowing the dragon to go on. "Though, it was Flam's fault." The little fairy of course, did not appreciate this comment and chased Igneel away from the iron dragon slayer with a stream of fire from her mouth. "Hey! Quit it!"

"Those two have almost no sense of maturity, but they still manage to be what they are, so I guess it's all right." Grandine said with a smile as she walked up to Gajeel. She had stopped healing his wounds once Wendy began, because there was no reason for her to heal Ferr. "How are your wounds?" She asked, dragging the iron dragon slayer away from his thoughts.

"Uh, yeah. They're fine." He answered quickly, trying to not be suspicious. _'What did she mean; "What they are." A dragon and a fairy?'_ The air dragon could tell he was thinking about something, but decided to not pry any further.

"Are you alright, Gajeel?" Levy ran over to the iron dragon slayer, clutching Pantherlily close to her small chest. The exceed wanted to ask as well, but couldn't breathe because he was being squeezed too tightly. It took the dragon slayer a few moments to calm the girl down so that his friend didn't die of suffocation. It was quite the comical scene. A large man trying to save a cat from a little girl who had been on the verge of crying.

"So, Ferr," The large iron dragon loomed over the normal sized fairy. "Do you think you'll do it?"

The iron fairy cupped her chin with her hand as a way of showing that she was thinking. "Yeah, I think so. He has potential." A sly smile of pointed teeth slid open on Ferr's lips. "Plus, it'll be fun." Several people became worried for Gajeel's well-being at the last comment, but said nothing. "Oh yeah! Erza!" After she seized the attention of the armor mage, she yanked the sword she was using earlier out of the ground. It no longer glowed red, but the shimmering light that reflected off of it made it look as if it were alive. "Here." She said, holding the sword out to the armor mage. "This is the purest iron you'll find in Earthland. Use the same care for it as you do your armor." The iron fairy showed an earnest and kind smile.

"Thank you very much." Erza replied, bowing, honored by receiving such a gift by one of the fairies. When she took the sword in her hand, she thought. _'Wow, this is so light! How is that possible?'_ There was no time to ask her questions though.

"Well," Grandine said, turning her head to face Wendy. "Are you ready to meet Ventus? I promise he's not nearly as violent as those two." The little girl nodded, giggling at the dragon's promise.

Igneel and Flam had come back, both of them a little singed, but nothing particularly noticeable to the others in the crowd. When they heard Grandine speaking, the little fairy began to fly slower, as of to avoid coming back to where everyone else was. The fire dragon noticed and cupped his hand behind her in an attempt to keep her moving forward. "Don't worry. That all took place two hundred years ago." He words didn't seem to reassure the fairy, who looked at him with a worried face.

There wasn't any time to explain as the air dragon went to summon her fairy, first creating a tornado that was about ten feet tall in front of her. **_"I summon you! Emperor of the Air Fairies, Ventus!"_**

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><p><strong>Well, I hope you enjoyed :) Chapter 9 is already written and proof-read, so it will probably be uploaded later tonight or tomorrow morning. Til next time.<strong>


	9. Scroll-9

**Hello, everyone! It hasn't been that long, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!**

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><p>People in the crowd covered their eyes so that they wouldn't be blinded by the pieces of debris that had been picked up by the winds of the tornado. Flam, even though she held onto Igneel's collar with all her might, her little form didn't have the strength to not be caught by the wind and blown away. Ferr was fast enough to jump up and catch her, but then she herself had to take refuge behind the iron dragon as the wind became even faster. All of a sudden, the wind stopped and the sun was shining, there wasn't a cloud in the sky.<p>

Where the tornado had been, there was now a man standing. He had a medium build and was quite muscular. His shoulder length hair shone like gold and his eyes were as bright a blue as the sky above them. He had no shirt, but he had a skirt like a Roman soldier, white fabric that barely reached his knees, held up by a wide leather belt studded with brass bolts. His wings and tail weren't anything like the fairies the people had seen before him. Angelic and covered with ivory feathers, his wings reached from slightly above his head to down near his knees. By his sandaled feet, a lion's tail barely touched the ground. When he noticed the air dragon standing in front of him, he fell to one knee and bowed his head. "My lady, Grandine-sama, it has been a long time." He smiled as he raised his head to look at the pink-haired dragon, who gestured for him to stand up.

"I have called you here to see if you would like to train Wendy so that she may pass my test. What do you say?" She asked as she smiled and stepped out of the way so that the fairy could see Wendy, who had hid behind Grandine out of shyness.

"Of course." He responded with a smile as he kneeled down in front of Wendy, taking one of her hands and holding it gently in his. "And you, Miss Wendy?" The little blue haired girl, lost for words, could only nod in response. "Excellent. Now," He stood up and looked back to Grandine. "When shall we start?" As soon as the fairy asked his question, whispers started flying throughout the crowd. No one knew when or even where the fairies were going to train the dragon slayers. Could they do it in Magnolia? Would they have to go far away?

"Well," Grandine cupped her chin with her hand. "I supposed sooner rather than later would probably be a good idea, but it's really up to you, Ferr, and Flam." No one noticed the air fairy's wing twitch at the mention of the fire fairy's name. "What do you two think?" Ferr stepped out from behind Metalicana as Flam jumped off of her hand and transformed into her larger form in a ball of fire.

"Personally, I think we should work in the land of the fairies. We won't get punished if we destroy anything in our own territory there." Ferr stated. "Plus, I've got to keep an eye on the mines under the mountains. Leave them alone for anything longer than a day and things start to go downhill." Gajeel nodded. The iron users would train in the land of the fairies.

"We probably want to go to the fairy's land as well. I don't want to explain anything if a town gets burned down or something." The members of the guild who knew Natsu's… impeccable reputation for causing property damage out on jobs agreed with the fire fairy. "Plus, I've got to be there in case one of the volcanoes erupts. Most of them are dormant, but a few of them are still active." She explained.

"Well, if the fire fairies are going to be messing around, we probably want to be here in Earthland." Ventus narrowed his eyes toward Flam. "Those volcanoes spew all kinds of nasty things into the air." The fire fairy ground her teeth together before snapping back at Ventus.

"I don't control where, when, or how the volcanoes erupt! My kingdom's job is to limit the damage they cause as much as possible! If you think you can do a better job, be my guest!" She shouted as she walked forward with her wings blazed brighter and her hands clenched into tight fists.

"Oh, so you admit that it's _your_ fault that two centuries ago, a volcano destroyed so much land and killed so many people." The air fairy smiled at the fire fairy's frustration.

"No, it was your fault! Not only did your fairies prevent us from going into your territory until it was too late to stop it, but they also refused to heal the lungs of those who were trying to help them!" The guild members started backing away from the fairies for either one of two reasons; A, the heat from Flam's anger was becoming unbearable, or B, they'd seen fairies fight dragon slayers with ease and didn't want to get caught up in a fight between two of them.

Ven took a few steps so that he was only inches from the angry fire fairy. "Remember the duty you were assigned, Empress. Your subjects died doing exactly what they were supposed to, fighting a hopeless battle against an unstoppable force." That was the last straw for Flam.

"YOU BASTARD!" Taking her right hand, the fire fairy coated it in red flame before sending it as a powerful punch right to the air fairy's jaw. The force of the strike caused Ven to stumble back a few steps before the smoke dissipated to reveal where the punch had landed, a large burn that had begun to bleed scarlet. The air fairy stood up straight and brushed his hand past his cheek, as if he was wiping away the burn, because after his hand passed, it wasn't there anymore.

"You always were quite the hothead." He stated with an amused smile on his face. Flam, seconds before she charged toward the air fairy, was stopped by Ferr, who put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't. He's not worth it." She cautioned her friend. Neither the iron fairy's land nor people were affected by the eruption of the volcano, but she did not want to watch a war where her mines would supply the weapons for both sides. The silence surrounding them seemed to be alive, ready to consume anyone who couldn't resist it.

"We should head back to the guild. It's getting late. We can figure this all out tomorrow." The air dragon suggested to the silence. No one said anything, but they all agreed without sound and started to walk back toward Fairy Tail.

The only sound that could be heard was the buzzing of Ferr's wings as she flew alongside Metalicana, glancing back at Gajeel, Levy, and Pantherlily to make sure they didn't get left behind. Flam was walking next to Igneel, who had Natsu with Happy on his head on the other side. The fire dragon let out a light sigh. _'I can't believe they're still arguing about whose fault it was. It was a volcano! It wasn't anyone's fault!'_ He grimaced to himself. _'If I said that, I'd get killed by both of them.' _

"Hey, Flam." Happy turned on Natsu's head to face the fire fairy. "If you guys go to the land of fairies, will I be able to come?" The exceed asked the question as if he already knew the answer wasn't going to be what he wanted.

The red-headed fairy had an expression of pity on her face. "I'm sorry, Happy. It's not a particularly safe place to be, especially where we're going. I know Natsu wants you to come, but I don't want you to get hurt." She smiled sadly at the blue feline.

"Hey! Don't talk like I'm not here!" Natsu shouted. Right. Into. Igneel's. Ear.

"Natsu! Learn to control your volume!" The fire dragon muttered as he rubbed his now ringing ear. Grey, who was walking a few steps ahead of them, could be heard snickering. "It doesn't matter anyway, you still have to listen to Flam. She's the one who decides who goes and who doesn't."

The pinkette crossed his arms and looked up at his best friend with a disappointed face. "I wish you could come, Happy."

"Aye, me too." He responded as he slid off of Natsu's head and into his arms, ready for a hug, but not ready for his friend to leave. Because the ice mage had been listening to their entire conversation, he decided it was high time to put in his opinion.

"Don't worry, Happy. That flame brain is probably going to break something and get kicked out before you have time to be sad that he's gone." Even though it was meant as a nice gesture, the ice mage's comment was not well liked by the dragon slayer.

"What did you say, Ice Princess!? Hey, get back here!" Natsu shouted just before he started running after Grey, who was already a step ahead of him. Taking only a few steps on the cobblestone itself, he created a sheet of shimmering ice that led straight to Fairy Tail for him to slide on. Natsu, of course, wasn't expecting the solid ground in front of him to turn into a slippery slide that he couldn't get off of. "Whoa! Hey, slow down!" Many of the guild members who were walking back burst out laughing at the comical scene taking place. A fire mage sliding along a piece of ice with his friend in front of him, ice skating backwards to keep an eye on him as they moved along much faster than before. Every few feet or so, Grey had to make an adjustment to the track to keep Natsu from running into a tree or a building because he couldn't turn on his own.

"That looks like fun! Wait for me, Natsu!" Happy, after quickly removing his wings, landed down on the ice to slide with the two older boys. Ferrum, since she was already flying, sped up to be in line with Grey.

"Here, I'll keep an eye out so you don't run into anything." She said with a bright smile. It took Grey a second to figure out what she was talking about, the fact that he wasn't looking where he was going. "Turn Right!" She shouted shortly before landing sideways on one of the stone buildings to jump off to keep flying. Unfortunately, the turn was a bit too sharp and the warning a bit too late for the ice mage to change course easily. Instead of a nice smooth turn being created, ice rode up to the second story of the build, covering its entire front in a layer of crystalline snow.

"Give me an earlier warning next time!" The raven haired mage yelled to the iron fairy.

"Insolent human! You should be thankful I'm helping you!" She shouted in response before turning her head back to look at where they were headed, a sight that caused her to widen her eyes in horror. _"STOP!"_ She screamed at the top of her lungs right before she brought her arms up to cover her face. Grey didn't even get the chance to turn around before they crashed into the wooden doors at the entrance of Fairy Tail.

Grey hit the doors right in the center with enough force to slam them open with a loud BAM! and continued to move forward on his trail of ice. About halfway through the guildhall, he stopped making the ice, but that sent him off the floor and rammed his back into the bottom of the bar. After hitting the wood, Grey groaned and bent forward, interlacing his fingers around the back of his head.

Ferrum was the next person to come through the doors, but didn't hit them, so she was still flying at the same speed she was when she was next to Grey. With no way to stop her momentum, the iron fairy continued until she ran her side into the balcony of the second floor, causing her to crumple down onto the top of the bar.

And finally, it was Natsu's turn to come through the doors. Happy had caught up to him at some point and was now being held tightly to the dragon slayer's chest. Because the two of them were last and they were looking where they were going, Happy had time to make his wings and get off of the ice slide. He flew himself and Natsu to a part of the guild that wasn't covered in ice. "How about that! I'm the winner!"

"Oh, shut up, Natsu." Grey grumbled, still holding the back of his head from where it hit the wood. The guild was completely empty except for the table and chairs that were still in their original spots. Well, it wasn't going to stay empty for very long.

"Natsu! Grey! Are you guys alright?" Lucy called through the open doors of the guild, shortly before slipping and falling on her butt. "Ouch!" She was followed by the rest of the group who had gone to watch the summoning of the fairies, some of them having difficulty on the now icy road. "Can't you guys do anything without breaking something?" She yelled at them, not really expecting to get an answer.

The Master walked by the celestial mage, chuckling. "I'm afraid not. It just wouldn't be Fairy Tail if nothing was broken every once in a while." His smiling face took on some dark qualities. "However, actions have consequences. Erza!" He turned to face the armor mage as she walking in the guild with no difficulty whatsoever. "You may decide their punishment. Everyone else! Feel free to party!" The crowd roared with cheers before rushing into the guild.

The older two of the Take-Over mages went behind the counter and started to serve drinks to the customers who were swarming everywhere. Metalicana walked over to the bar where Ferrum was laying face down. "Hey, time to get up sleepyhead." He said as he shook her shoulders in an attempt to rouse the fairy. Not satisfied with the results of this method, the iron dragon wrapped one of his arms around the fairy's waist, being careful to not cut himself on either her tail or her wings, and lifted her up on his shoulder. It was then that he noticed the red mark along her side where she ran into the balcony. "Jeez, learn to slow down, will you?"

"Mhm." She responded quietly while nodding her head slightly. Her dark eyes opened only for a moment to look at the man who was carrying her. "Sorry, too much fun." She muttered before closing her eyes again. All of a sudden, it was as if she was made of thousands of tiny metallic beads that all broke apart at that one moment. A waterfall of silver that disappeared inches before it touched the floor. What was left in the iron dragon's hand was a little fairy, no more than a foot tall with little pieces of black cloth, the same color as her hair, covering her top and bottom. Her wings were still the same kind as her larger form, but her tail and boots were no longer there. She appeared to be asleep, curled up into a little ball.

"Went and tired yourself out, uh?" He asked with a warm smile. Metalicana shook his head before carrying the little fairy over to the table where the rest of the dragons and fairies had gathered. "Either of you wanna take Ferr home? I'm afraid she won't remember where she is when she wakes up and might attack someone."

"I'll do it." Ventus stood up from his seat near the edge of the table. He gently took the small form of the iron fairy into his hand and beat his strong wings to create a cloud of dust, which when it dissipated, revealed that the air fairy was no longer there.

"Now what should we do?" The iron dragon asked as he sat down in the now vacant seat. He didn't care who answered, as long as there was one.

"I guess we'll just wait till tomorrow. I don't see what other choice we have. It's too late to leave now." Grandine responded as she looked out the window at the glowing orange sun. _'Tomorrow.'_

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><p><strong>Well, I hope you enjoy Chapter 9. Yeah, I know that Ven doesn't seem to be a very nice person, I not sure why I did that, I guess there always has to be the jerk of the group. I wrote the ice sliding scene on a whim, I made it up on the spot. Til next time!<strong>

**(I didn't have fun doing this because the copy and paste on my computer _stopped working._ It's a miracle I didn't go insane.)**


	10. Scroll-10

**I truly want to apologize for not uploading in so long. I had an enormous school project and have been forcing myself to not write until I got it done (Damn you, school!). Well, I also feel bad because this isn't the most interesting of chapters, but it's a necessary piece of the story (some parts of it more than others). I hope you enjoy :)**

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><p>"Flam! For the fifth time already, WAKE UP!" Igneel was beginning to lose his patience with the fairy whose head was still down on the wooden table surrounded by empty pints. She had challenged Cana to a drinking contest that had started out as her celebrating that Ventus was finally gone for the evening. Things had gotten a little violent after MIrajane decided to cut them off. Luckily, Erza was there to calm down Cana and Grandine simply hit Flam on the back of the head with a beer bottle, knocking her out. The fire dragon let out a sigh as he gave up on shaking the fairy's shoulders. "Jeez, now what am I supposed to do?" He scratched the back of his head as he looked around at the nearly empty guild. It was far too early in the morning for anyone who didn't stay the night to be there yet.<p>

He sagged his shoulders before walking over to the bar where the white haired mage was humming to herself as she dried glasses. As soon as he reached the halfway point between the table and the bar, a plume of grey smoke puffed up next to him. Dissipating, the smoke revealed Ferr in her larger form, yawning as she floated a few feet off the ground by buzzing her wings. "G'morning, Igneel-san." Still in the air, she turned around and looked over at the fire fairy sleeping on the table. Che grumbled something before flying over to the other fairy. "Flam! Wake the hell up!" Looping her arms beneath the fire fairy's, Ferr lifted her out of the table bench, but wasn't quite awake enough to pay a whole lot of attention to what she was doing. Slipping out of the iron fairy's arms, Flam landed on the wooden floor with a solid _THUMP._ "Oh, oops."

Igneel sweat-dropped at the scene taking place in front of him. _'Are those two really the leaders of some of the most powerful nations in the land of varies?'_ He sighed again before continuing to walk toward the bar, not wanted to get caught in the mess. If Flam actually did wake up from falling on the floor, she definitely wouldn't be happy.

"Looks like someone had a long night." Mirajane said with a smile as the fire dragon sat down on one of the barstools. She placed a glass of orange juice in from of him. "On the house."

"Thanks." He took a sip while his eyes slid over to make sure the fairies weren't causing any trouble. "I was impressed at how much alcohol both of them managed to down before we had to stop them. How has Cana's liver not given up yet?"

The white haired barmaid chuckled lightly. "Now that's the real magic. I was surprised by how Flam acted when she was drunk. When she's an adult, she looks so... regal. It's hard to believe they're the same person." Now it was the fire dragon's turn to laugh.

"You want to see her regal, you should've been there when she accidentally drank a spirit that was, like, 120 proof or something crazy like that. She couldn't stop burping flames for ten solid minutes." He was going to take another sip of his drink, but a little creature in distress landed on his head.

"Igneel-sama! You promised you wouldn't tell anyone about that!" The petite form of the fire fairy seemed to fit perfectly on the dragon's head. Ferrum walked over lazily and sat on the next barstool before placing her elbows on the bar and resting her face in her hands. Her wings were laying flat, but her tail came up the side of the bar and started slithering around, inspecting everything on the countertop as if it had a mind of its own, all the while being slowly watched by the iron fairy's dark eyes.

"Eh? I don't remember promising anything like that." Igneel said as he looked up at the fairy innocently truly remembering.

"That's probably because you had a couple of drink too. Fairy liquor not only affects dragons, but it also tends to wipe pieces of memories. That was one strange night." Ferr stated simply, gaining some questioning look from the others at the bar, which she just shrugged off. "So, any word on when the brats are gonna be coming in? We should probably lease as soon as possible."

"Eager to get started, huh?" A gruff voice belonging to that shadow that was now looming over them asked. The iron fairy spun around on her stool as her face lit up with joy.

"Metalicana-sama!" Ferr squealed as she jumped off of her stool and flew toward the iron dragon. His shoulders were too broad for her to give him a normal hug, so she improvised and hung from his neck instead, pulling her legs in towards her chest as her buzzing wings got a little too close for comfort to the person she was hugging.

"Alright, alright. Glad to see you too. Now, can you get off of me?" With a cheerful nod, Ferr released her arms and landed softly on the ground. Metalicana crossed his arms before he continued speaking. "Everyone's waiting outside y'know. They've been waiting for you guys all morning." The blank looks he received in response told him that they had no idea what he was talking. He grumbled something under his breath that sounded a bit like 'simpletons'. "Just come with me." He stated roughly before turning around to go back out the doors of the guild followed by the three others. "Hey, Grandine! I got them!" Is what the iron dragon shouted as he opened the doors, temporarily blinding the three who had been inside and whose eyes had not yet adjusted to the bright sun.

"FInally! Thank you, Metalicana." The pink haired dragon, clearly annoyed, marched over to the group of three. "Flam, Ferr, are you two ready to leave?" The iron fairy nodded lazily as the fire fairy jumped off of Igneel's head before changing into her larger form in a tower of flame, nodding as it dissipated. "Then follow me." She led them to where there was a large group of people, nearly all of whom where members of Fairy Tail.

Ferr flew over to where Gajeel was talking with Levy who was holding Pantherlily in yet another death-grip. The rest of Team Shadow Gear stood behind the blue haired girl, but looked like they didn't want to be woken up as early as they were. The poor little exceed looked like he was desperately trying to escape the clutches of the small girl, but to no avail. Metalicana was the one to help him gain his freedom after he convinced Levy to let him go, suggesting that she should give Gajeel a hug before he leaves because a certain fairy wasn't at all good at 'being careful'. The iron dragon slayer was either too embarrassed or enjoying the hug too much to be angry at his father who was laughing at the facial expressions of Jet and Droy.

Flam and Igneel walked over to where Natsu and Grey were just beginning to get physical with their argument. _'It's too early in the morning for this.'_ The fire dragon thought as he sighed out loud, glancing at the sun that had just barely come up. Luckily, Erza's threatening glare and inaudible warning managed to calm the fighting pair down. Well, calm meaning they weren't going at it anymore. Now, they were anxious about trying to not be killed by the armor mage. The one with the most to fear was Happy, who was currently being held in Erza's arms. It took Lucy a couple tries, but she did manage to get the blue feline away from the armor mage unharmed. Igneel slipped the little silver case with the charcoal sticks into Natsu's hand. "Take this with you. The land of the fairies isn't the safest place for humans to be." He whispered quietly so that only the fire dragon slayer could hear him, acknowledging with an almost invisible nod. Before the dragon had time to say anything else, Natsu grabbed him in a tight hug, not pinning his arms, but still catching him off guard. Igneel returned the embrace with his own strong arms. "Don't worry, Natsu. I'm not going anywhere." The silence they created was neither sinister nor scary, but rather warm and gentle, expressing feelings that have no words to match their power.

_'I'll make sure of that.'_ Grandine thought with a smile before she turned away from the fire users to walk toward her own child. Ventus had come back from the land of the fairies and was standing with his arms crossed as he chatted with Wendy. It didn't look like the earliness of the departure wasn't bothering him at all. Romeo on the other hand, looked like he was ready to fall down as he struggled to hold Carla, who was still asleep, in his arms.

"Ah, Grandine-sama!" The air fairy walked quickly over to the dragon. "There has been a change of plans. Wendy and I are going to work in the land of the fairies like Ferr and Flam. We decided it would be safer that trying to find somewhere in Earthland where other humans couldn't find us." Grandine, although sightly caught off guard, nodded in response.

She stepped back so that she had all three groups in her field of vision. "Alright! Is everyone ready to go?!" Catching everyone's attention as she shouted into the early morning air that was clean and crisp. After receiving several weary nods, she responded with a cheerful smile and a wave. "Bon voyage, then! Hope you have fun (and come back in one piece)! See you in about a month!" It was at that point that most of the people who had gathered realized that the air dragon had far too much caffeine in her system for a normal person.

"Here we go, Brat!" The iron fairy shouted before punching a sizable hole in the ground that went down so far that the bottom was simply a well of black shadows. "See ya, Metalicana-sama!" Were the last words she yelled as she went down the hole feet first, grabbing the back of Gajeel's mess of hair, pulling him down the hole behind her. The dragon slayer didn't have time to shout because he neither saw the fairy punch the hold in the ground or feel her grab the back of his head until it was too late. The bottoms of his boots were the last thing to be seen before the mouth of the hole snapped shut, sealing off the path to the fairy realm.

Flam chuckled lightly, trying to hide her mouth with her hand. "She's having _way_ too much fun." The fairy turned to face the pinkette that she would be taking with her. "Ready?" After receiving a nod of acceptance, Flam spun back around on the balls of her feet and held out her hand, palm up, with a small flame resting in it. The fire began to snake its way around the width of her hand until it created a large vortex, the size of a normal door. When the fairy removed her hand, the inside of the swirl began to disappear, creating a ring of fire around a wall of darkness. Motioning for Natsu to follow her, Flam walked through the portal, swallowed by the black completely. Even the glow of her flaming wings was consumed. Hesitating no longer than a millisecond, the fire dragon slayer followed. After he, too, was consumed by the dark, the ring of fire shrunk until there was no more black and snuffed itself out.

The air fury let out a light sigh. "Those two always had a thing about being flashy." He tilted his head down to look at the small girl with dark blue hair. "Got everything you need?" Not waiting for any response, Ventus bent down and wrapped one of his strong arms around Wendy, surprising her when he lifter her up, resting her on his hip. Beating his feathered wings intensely, the air fairy lifted the both of them off of the ground and in moments, disappeared behind a cloud high up in the sky.

They left behind a silence that wasn't necessarily uneasy, but definitely had a feel of unnaturalness to it that no one like. "Hm, I wonder why they didn't just go through a door. That would've been a whole lot simpler." Igneel thought out loud as he scratched the back of his head, receiving several looks of curiosity.

"What'd you mean 'door'? I've never heard of a door that leads to the land of the fairies." The raven haired mage asked the fire dragon with his arms crossed. At first, Igneel looked surprised, probably from realizing that he had been thinking out loud and was now doomed to explain something .

"Um, well..." He muttered as he tried to look for a good example, his eyes finally resting on Lucy. "Here we go! Okay, it's actually a lot like celestial magic." He reached into the pocket of his pants and pulled out a small, but intricately carved, key. It looked different from the silver celestial keys in that it was made of a duller metal and that instead of an astrological symbol in the base, it had a smooth, blood red stone. "The fairy realm is a plot-off dimension like the celestial world and can only be reached by using magic. I can use this key to unlock any door, making it a portal to the land of the fairies. This one specifically opens in Flam's kingdom. Does that answer your question?" The ice mage nodded in response while the iron dragon started talking.

"You still have that, Igneel? I lost mine in the first five minutes after Ferr gave it to me." The grey haired dragons said with a look of genuine surprise on his chiseled face. Grandine only face-palmed.

"Why did you lose it? Gifts from the fairies are special." She spoke to him with an edge of scolding in her voice.

"I didn't think I would need it. Full sized dragons don't usually fit through the doors that key was designed for." The iron dragon said as he brought his hands up and shrugged. The female dragon sighed.

"I expected this kind of carelessness from Igneel, but not from you, Metalicana." Of course, this was nowhere productive slowly.

"Hey! I'm not that careless!" The three dragons continued to bicker for a few moments as they were watched in silence by the members of Fairy Tail. No one was quite sure what to do. Would their argument become physical and end with them destroying half the town? Or would it be more dangerous to try and stop them and have their anger be redirected toward the guild members?

"If you don't mind, I have a question of my own." Erza raided as she stepped forward toward the dragons who stopped fighting the instant they hear the armor mage speak. "Just out of curiosity, which on of you three is the strongest? Either when you were dragons or as human?" She asked the three of them, all of whom looked surprised at her question.

With only a moment's delay, the fire and iron dragons pointed toward and named with a straight face. "Grandine." Who blushed brightly as they continued. "For both."

"B-but, you guys are r-really strong too." The embarrassed dragon tried her best to get out, but wasn't being all that successful at convincing anyone.

"Please," Metalicana scoffed at the woman. "We've both sparred you as dragons and we've lost every single tim. I remember you clearly saying one time that you didn't kill me because you had 'more important things to do'." The pink haired dragon gave up on arguing, but began to shrink away form the group that had taken an interest in her strength.

"Plus, you've saved our lives so many times I lost count." Igneel stated as he flashed Grandine a bright smile, trying to be nice, but simply making it worse. Or maybe he couldn't hide his amusement at what he could tell was coming next.

"Grandine, I humbly request a dual to evaluate my strength against you own." The scarlet haired mage asked as she bowed at the waist before the dragon who had given up on speaking.

"Hey yeah! That sounds like a plan!" Grey stated as he advanced with the group of eager onlookers behind Erza.

The air dragon continued to shrink backwards away from the looming band of mages looking to test how well she could fight. _'Please come back soon!'_ She pleaded silently to the fairies and dragon slayers, hoping that they would be a large enough distraction to take the attention away from her.

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><p><strong>I'm sure we've all had crazy morning like that. Well, maybe not exactly like that, but still crazy. I'm not quite sure on how I want to organize the training chapters. One per group? Several chapters split into threes like in the previous story? Please tell me which one you think would work best :) I hope you enjoyed<strong>


	11. Scroll-11

**I officially hate school. I really, really do. Because we missed so many days due to bad weather, my teachers decided to speed everything up and try to cram everything into the little amount of time we have left. My friend at school who is helping me proofread is also hindered by this. I hope you enjoy the chapter anyway.**

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><p>Black. That was all the iron dragon slayer saw when he regain consciousness after being pulled through a hole in the ground by a fairy. Of course after he opened his eyes, he didn't see black anymore, but instead, a sea of dark grey. When he realised that he was laying on his back, he sat up, causing the blood that had pooled at the back of his head to rush forward.<p>

'_Ugh, the back of my head hurts. Why did she have to grab there? And where am I?'_ Gajeel thought in silence as he looked around at his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was the absence of a certain fairy that had brought him there. He almost ground his teeth in irritation at the woman's disappearance. '_Where the hell is she? We were getting ready to leave for the kingdom of the iron fairies, right?'_ Though what he was expecting, was nothing at all like what he was looking at now.

The only kingdom he had been in before was Fiore and that definitely didn't look anything like the land he was in. From what he could tell, he was on the side of a mountain, looking downhill at the terrain below. That was the first thing that was different about the fairy kingdom. The ground was as dry as dust and it had no color. Well, it did, but only in shades of grey. Some of the large rocks were as dark as soot while the top layer of soil was as grey as a ghost, nearly transparent. The iron dragon slayer ran the heel his boot through the dirt as he sat on the ground. There was only darker dust beneath. The second thing that was just as strange was the trees. From where he was sitting, they appeared as dry as the ground, but instead of grey, they were bone white with black cracks that looked like veins running all along their trunks. And none of them had any leaves on their branches. However, there was something in one tree that wasn't in any of the others. A single black crow that sat silently, watching with scarlet eyes, until it flapped its wings and left just as quietly as it had been sitting. It only took moments for the bird to become nothing but a speck against the dark grey sky that hung like a heavy curtain over the land. '_Do people really live in a place like this?'_ Gajeel thought as he absorbed the land around him. He had been in some dark and lifeless places before, but this was on a level all its own.

"There's a reason no one's ever tried to invade this kingdom." The iron dragon slayer almost jumped when the voice of the fairy cut through the silence. He turned his head to look at her as she sat criss-cross on a piece of coal that was about half the size of a minivan. Her shiny tail drew circles in the dirt far below. "To everyone else, this land is useless. It cannot grow crops nor support any form of life, making it appear barren and ugly in comparison to other lands. However," She hopped down off of the rock, landed softly, and scooped up a handful of soil, so dry that it slipped through her fingers like a silver waterfall. "They only look at the surface. Deep under the mountains, there is sand. And in that sand, is iron ore, tons of it, ready to be taken. We continue to amaze other peoples by living on land that can't even grow a single blade of grass." She smiled brightly as she walked over to Gajeel and offered him her hand. "Come with me, I'll show you the mines." After helping him out of the dirt, the iron fairy hopped up and began to fly by buzzing her wings. The dragon slayer walked a few feet behind her, avoiding her wings while leaving behind a trail of grey footprints that barely stood out against the sandy ground.

A few moments passed before they came to a mouth of a cave with sinister looking stalactites, fangs of rock reaching down from the ceiling, ready to snap shut at any moment. "Home Sweet Home!" The fairy chirped before dropping to the ground and continuing into the cave. The ceiling was so low that she wouldn't have been able to fly without hitting it.

It felt as if Gajeel had walked straight into a brick oven as he walked through the threshold of the cave. '_Jeez, why is it so hot? I thought this was the kingdom of the iron fairies, not fire fairies.'_ He thought as he grumbled to himself in the dark.

"Sorry if the heat's bothering you. We'll probably end up training outside most of the time, but I want to make sure that none of the idiots I left in charge while I was gone ruined anything." She responded, even though nothing had ever been said out loud. Gajeel nodded, but then realised there was no point because not only was nearly pitch black in the cave, but also because Ferr was _in front_ of him and wouldn't have seen it anyway. It was only seconds before a deep, red light appeared in the cave in front of them.

The hallway they were walking through opened up to a large cavern with towering walls of jagged rock and a pit of glowing magma down below. Around the lava pit was a narrow, rock walkway that opened up to another cavern that was only a few feet away from the iron users, but difficult to see because of a rock wall partially in the way. All around the inside of both caverns, little fairies flew through the air. Some were carrying little bags that, compared to their small body size, were huge. A few, in human-sized forms like Ferr, but not nearly as modernly dressed, were pushing old iron minecarts through the other cavern down towards the lava pit. Most of them stopped working as soon as they caught sight of their two visitors. "Ferrum-dono!" Screeched many of the little ones before they dropped the bags they were carrying and flew over to the larger fairy. The others, who were more humanoid in their forms, stopped pushing their minecarts before walking over slowly, not wanting to raise their wings in the small airspace to fly toward their leader.

It was only for a few moments, but Gajeel could see just how happy Ferr was to have all of her subjects greet her so brightly. '_It must of been awful when she was in the human world.'_ The dragons slayer couldn't really see a bunch of fairies mining underneath a mountain getting things to be happy about, like seeing the leader of their entire land, everyday. It was only then that the other fairies began to take notice of him. A few of the little ones were trying to get close, but seemed unsure of the human in their mountain. Only a couple of the fairies were either Gajeel's size or larger, and they had no problem whatsoever walking up to him to look him over, as if they were checking that he wouldn't hurt their leader.

Though it looked like Ferr wanted things to stay as they were for a few more seconds, she knew that if she didn't say anything, the others would never work again. "Alright! No more slacking! I'll be checking your work, so get back to it!" Without a single sound of disapproval, all the fairies who had come over to greet Ferr, quickly walked or flew back to whatever they had been doing either carrying little bags of rocks, or pushing entire mine carts. "I swear, they do anything they can to get out of work." The iron queen mumbled with a smile on her face. After giving the workers a few moments to get back to their stations, she walked over to one of the minecarts that was being pushed away from the magma pit and motioned for Gajeel to follow her, shortly before she grabbed one of the chunks of rocks out of the cart and tossed it to the dragon slayer. "This is the part of the mine where we actually retrieve the iron ore. The rest of it is refining and shaping of the metal itself." She explained as she continued to walk forward, looking down to not trip on one of the rails by accident. That would literally be her downfall.

Nearly inaudible, the brakes of one of the minecarts that was filled rocks let go of their secure hold on the rails, allowing itself to roll downhill toward the lava pit. By the time either of the newcomers realised it, the cart had picked up too much speed from the decline of the hill and left no time for Ferr to jump out of the way before it rammed into the side of her hip, sending her over the glowing pit of magma. "_Ferrum!"_

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><p>Natsu felt like he had been smacked by a frying pan that had just been taken off the stove when he walked into the land of the fire fairies. Not only that, but the air seemed to lack so much oxygen that it was like there wasn't any at all. '<em>It's so hard to breathe.'<em> The fire dragon slayer thought when he realised that half of what he was inhaling was soot and ash, causing his lungs to burn slightly. '_Wait a minute, I breath fire on a daily basis. Why does it burn?'_

"It's very rare that humans come here. Do you have the sticks of charcoal that Igneel gave you?" Flam asked him as she turned around with a serious look on her face. After receiving a nod, she continued with a piece of advice for the younger boy. "Chew on those for at least another day or two so that your lungs have a chance to become accustomed to the burning in the air. Sometimes even the dragons have difficulties breathing in this realm." She warned before she continued on further into the land of the fire fairies.

Despite its dark appearance, Natsu thought the kingdom he was in looked quite stunning compared to Fiore. There wasn't any grass on the charred ground, but instead there was what seemed to be an endless spiderweb of brightly glowing orange veins all around. The trees were even blacker than the ground, with scarlet leaves crowning their tops. The dragon slayer glanced around himself, noting that they were in a valley at the base of several mountains. The rock walls of the hills were a lighter grey, but were exceedingly overpowered by the soot-filled clouds that hung overhead, blocking out any possible blue sky. A few small fires burned in the distance, but were surely nothing to worry about.

It took a few seconds for him to notice, but Natsu watched as one of the 'fires' burning in the distance started coming closer to them.

"Ah, that looks like Carrie. He helps make sure everything is under control." She explained quickly before taking a few steps forward to meet the ball of fire as it turned into a tower of flames in front of the queen. The fire dissipated to reveal a man standing in front of her. His hair was layered like feathers that were shiny and as black as the trees. The deep red that his eyes radiated made him look like a demon. He wore no shirt, but had on tattered, tan shorts while his wings and tail were very similar to Flam's. "What brings you all the way out here, my friend?" The female fairy asked the one who was standing before her.

The one dubbed 'Carrie' instantly bowed at the waist after being addressed by the leader of the country. "Apologies, my lady. I would have liked to welcome you back under better circumstances, but I regret to inform you that one of the volcanoes has been acting up since you left." Flam visibly flinched, which Natsu saw, but Carrie didn't because his head was still bowed low.

"How much time is in between the earthquakes and are there any towns nearby that need to be evacuated?" The fairy surprised the dragon slayer by how fast she was able to regain her composure and keep her head cool.

Carrie lifted his back up to look the fire queen in the eyes. "It is Mount Parve, there is only one small town near its base. The timing between the earthquakes leads us to believe that there should be at least two days before it erupts." Flam nodded.

"Mount Parve is quite small, so it shouldn't be a particularly large eruption. I want you to make sure the townspeople are informed and that someone's started putting the barriers up. Be sure to tell me if the timing between the earthquakes either speeds up or slows down."

Carrie was about to bow again, but stopped when he finally saw Natsu standing behind the fairy queen. "Of course, my lady. It is not my place to ask such things, but who is the human boy with you?" At first, Flam didn't seem to know what he was talking about, but then quickly remembered, pushing the volcano out of her mind.

"Oh, That's Natsu. He is Igneel-sama's son who has come here to train for Igneel-sama to test him and hopefully to make him a true dragon slayer." The fairy's simple explanation seemed to leave Carrie even more confused, but he figured that his leader wouldn't bring anyone dangerous into their kingdom, so he dropped the subject. "Ah, that reminds me!" She turned to face the pinkette who was chewing on one of the pieces of charcoal like he was instructed, but didn't look like he was particularly enjoying it. "We should head to the capital. I want to make sure nothing else happened when I was gone. Then, we can start training."

The idea of finally getting to the training made Natsu punch his fist up into the air and yell. "M alb firged uph!" (Roughly Translated: I'm all fired up!) The stick of charcoal he had been chewing on broke into several pieces because of his sharpened canines, so they now filled his mouth, making it difficult to talk.

The fairies chuckled lightly at the sight of the overexcited boy with his mouth full of charcoal as he tried to speak. "Alright, Natsu. Calm down, we'll get there soon enough, just don't choke first." Flam said with a bright smile on her face. She turned to Carrie before nodding, as if signalling that it was time to leave. With only one beat of his bright wings, the male fairy trust himself up into the sky. "See you back at the capital!" The remaining fairy yelled to her friend as he disappeared into the dark sky. Flam swiveled her head around to face Natsu with a sly smile on her face. "We get to walk."

Of course, it didn't take very long for, "This is so _boring!_" to come out of Natsu's mouth as they walked through the fire countryside. During the beginning of their walk, he had been fixing the charcoal sticks in his mouth, but now that they were fixed, he had nothing to do.

"Well, when you sprout wings, we'll fly to the capital because I am _not_ carrying you." Flam responded when she crossed her arms over her chest. She had the feeling that Natsu was going to get bored at some point, but she was hoping that it wouldn't come until later. '_Why do I have such a bad feeling about all of this? Even Carrie seemed a little uneasy...'_ The fire fairy looked around at the charred ground and trees. They had seen no people and there were no other sounds besides their feet over crumpled leaves.

All of a sudden, a young boy ran out from behind a tree and stood before the two travelers. He had a tail and wings like Flam, but his hair was a boisterous yellow, which stuck out like a sore thumb in a land of black and red. "Flamma-dono! Please come with me, we need your help!" He shouted with pleading eyes to the fairy queen who nodded and began to run after him as he led her away.

"Natsu! Come with us or you're going to get left behind!" She yelled back at the pink-haired boy who didn't even need to hear her to start running after her. "What happened?" The yellow haired boy was asked from behind by the older fairy. He didn't even turn around to answer, too focused on pushing the foliage out of his way.

"A magma hole in the side of the mountain above our town burst open. It's slow-moving, but if nothing is done, everything will catch on fire." He explained between gasping breaths as he ran. "There it is!" The three of them caught sight of a small village and what the boy had been explaining, a stream of glowing magma on the hill above the town, slowly crawling down.

'_I guess it's a good thing you can't fly, Natsu.'_ The fire queen thought with a small smile gracing her lips. "Well, it looks like we got here just in time. It hasn't spread that far and it's still a safe distance from the your home." She told the little boy who had shown them the way. Once they reached the center of the village, the stopped running. "Alright, I want you to go find your family. Natsu, come with me." After ordering the small boy, the fire fairy led the dragon slayer up the the side of the hill until they were standing a few feet from the stream of magma. "I'm going to show you what I do on a daily basis." She took a few more steps toward the lava and kneeled in front of it, even though it was still moving toward her. '_Desiste.'_ The magma sizzled when Flam placed her slender hand atop the glowing mass. Slowly, the red and orange color inside the magma began to dissipate as it swirled around Flam's palm inside the rock.

"Whoa! That was cool! Will I learn how to do that?!" The fire fairy was amused by Natsu's excited reaction to doing something so simple. '_That'll be a cool trick to show Happy when I get back!'_ The dragon slayer thought as he continued to ignore everything else that was going on by staring down at the lump of magma, wondering how the fairy did… whatever she did.

Suddenly, the ground shook violently, so much that it caused Natsu to lose his balance for a moment. "What was that?!" He shouted to Flam after the few seconds of shaking finally stopped. He fell silent when he saw the expression on Flam's face as she looked further up the mountain and then followed her gaze with his own eyes. A mushroom shaped, black cloud was spewing out of the top of the mountain that they would now know as a volcano. '_It's erupting…'_

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><p>"<em>EEP!"<em> Wendy squeaked as she and Ventus gained altitude. The beating of the fairy's wings and the rushing of the wind as they flew past made it nearly impossible for Wendy to hear anything besides the blood pumping through her ears. '_It's so cold.'_ The air dragon slayer had worn her normal clothes because she wasn't expecting to go thousands of feet up into the atmosphere. '_I wonder how high we are.'_ Her eyes started to droop and her vision became blurry. '_The air is so thin, I can't breathe.'_

"Use your magic to gather all the oxygen in the air around us. There's not much, but it should be enough so that you don't pass out." The air fairy told the blue haired girl he was carrying. As her hands began to glow blue with magic, the air around them started to swirl towards her, bringing with it the oxygen she needed.

'_I wonder how much longer it will be before we get to the kingdom of the air fairies.'_ Wendy thought, now that she had enough oxygen to keep her brain working. When she looked around at where they were, all she saw was clear blue skies and white, puffy clouds beneath them. Suddenly, Ventus stopped rising and simply retained his altitude by beating his wings steadily. "Why have we stopped?" Wendy just received an annoyed look from the air fairy.

"Jeez, kids these days have no patience." He grumbled, shortly before taking his arm that wasn't holding the small girl and pointed it palm down towards the clouds. "_Tempestas."_ It was only a whisper, but clearly a powerful spell, changing the peaceful could beneath them into the eye of a hurricane. "Hold on." He told Wendy, shortly before pulling his wings in to his sides, and dropping straight down. The dragon slayer didn't even have time to scream before they plummeted and everything went black.

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><p>"<em>Time to wake up…"<em> A soft voice whispered into the dragon slayer's ear. Wendy curled up further into herself as she lay down on her side. She couldn't tell if the voice was male or female, but she didn't really care.

'_But it's so warm.'_ The small girl thought while she rubbed her cheek against what she could only assume was grass, but incredibly soft. It was as if someone was trying to wake her up in her own dream. '_What would be the point of that?'_ She mused, continuously taking deeper and slower breaths.

"_If you don't wake now, you never will."_ The voice, taking on a hint of seriousness, warned her. Now Wendy was sure that it was a man's voice not only because it was deeper than most women's voices, but also because she felt a rough hand gently pass by her face, brushing a piece of her hair away. "_Surely you wish to see your mother and friends again. Don't you?"_ The gentleness returned to the voice of whoever was talking to the blue haired dragon slayer.

'_That's right, I left to train. Ineed to find Ventus-san so that I can train and quickly get back to them. Carla's waiting for me.'_ She wanted to wake up, but something was not letting her open her eyes, as if they were being held closed. '_Why won't my eyes open?!' _Her heart began to race as her panic increased.

"_Calm down, it's not the end of the world. Not yet at least."_ Her anger flared at the haughtiness in the voice of whoever was speaking to her. "_Cool your jets, little girl. Keeping a level head is important for a healer. One distraction and your patient can die right in front of you."_ The man paused for a short time, only long enough to allow his words to settle like silt on the bottom of a pond. "_Do you understand?"_

It was Wendy's turn to take a pause. '_Yeah, that makes sense. Sorry. How can I open my eyes?'_ For the first time, she heard the voice actually laugh at her.

"_You humans always were the most unusual. Don't you know how to open your eyes?"_ The small dragon slayer instantly felt embarrassment flash over her body.

'_But-!'_

"_But what? Go ahead, open your eyes."_ And that is exactly what she did, blinking a few times afterward to adjust to the bright sunlight that was shining down on her. Her dark brown eyes drifted around, taking in the scenery. If she could guess, she would have thought she was on the side of a tall hill with bright green grass and white, puffy clouds rolling by down below. There were a few little, grey statues, but she couldn't tell what they were supposed to depict, too old or damaged. It was then that her eyes finally caught sight of what she had been sleeping on. Not grass, but one of Ventus's wings. He certainly didn't look happy about it, considering that he was forced to lay in a clearly uncomfortable position so that she didn't fall off. Though annoyance was the predominant emotion on his face, there was something underneath that was glad she opened her eyes.

"Isn't that better?" He sarcastically asked with a smug smile on his face, making it obvious that he had something to do with her previous inability to open her eyes. Shifting his wing beneath the girl, the fairy slowly removed it, replacing her on the soft grass before standing up. "Consider this your first test. If you were unable to pass, then you would have never been able to pass Grandine-sama's."

He stood up and began to walk away from her, heading down the hill while letting his lion's tail swish gently against the grass. The blue haired dragon slayer, not wanting to be left behind, quickly got up to her feet and rushed to follow him. He dissolved from her view after contacting the cloud line, causing her to hesitate. But, after she took a deep breath and closed her eyes, she walked forward, only to take a couple of steps before being stopped by a chunk of her hair being pulled on. "Hey! What was that fo-!?" What she saw took her words away.

It had been Ventus who had grabbed her hair, but not without good reason. The cloud layer hadn't been very wide, but it was thick enough to prevent anyone from seeing through it, especially if they had their eyes closed. Shortly after the cloud line ended, a cliff began. However, this was no ordinary cliff for there was no bottom, simply another layer of cloud, hundreds of feet below. '_It's like we're on a floating island...'_ The young dragon slayer looked around. '_There are more.'_ Several others, varying in size and shape, also floated in the sky. Some had extensive tangles of tree roots poking out of the unprotected bottom while others looked like they were holding up entire mountains. It took her a little time to notice, but after a few moments, Wendy saw little fairies buzzing around between the flying mountains. A few were large like Ventus, but most were small, no taller than one foot. "It's better to look where you're going than up where you aspire or down where you fear." He paused for a moment and brought his other hand underneath his chin as he thought. "Well, I guess they're all a bit better than not looking at all. Don't you think?" Wendy looked at him with an unamused expression on her face and didn't change even as she watched his fingers connect as a ring and slip past his lips.

"_TWEEE!"_ The shrill noise that was apparently supposed to be a whistle from Ventus nearly deafened the dragon slayer who stood next to him. Her sharpened sense of hearing certainly didn't help with any of it.

"What was that for?!" She yelled, thinking that the high pitched whistle was meant as a form of punishment for an earlier misdeed. Ventus just gave her an annoyed look.

"Not for you." He snapped back, but not unkindly, turning his head as if he was looking for something in the distance. "Ah, there we go!" It didn't take a genius to figure out what the fairy was talking about. Coming straight for them was a large gryffon, screeching as it approached the edge of the stone cliff. The dragon slayer flinched as the beast landed next to Ventus, kicking up a storm of dust with its taloned feet. The fairy wasn't the least bit surprised or afraid of the creature and reached out to scratch underneath its chin. "How have you been, my friend?" Wendy heard something she could only assume was purring coming from the animal. It stopped the instant it caught sight of her, turning its head and seemingly drilling through her with it's fiery golden eyes. "That's Wendy. She's Grandine-sama's daughter and we're going to train her so that she can pass the test." Without any form of verbal response, the gryffon took a few steps around Ventus and faced the small dragon slayer, his eyes still locked with hers. Moving only his legs, the griffin bowed to her like a lipizzaner stallion would, pulling back one of his front legs.

"Oh, good, I don't have to teach you two to like each other." Wendy, not sure what he meant and still preoccupied with the large creature in front of her, tried to look and Ventus and tell him that she was still unsure, but she wasn't seen. Instead, she didn't see him move until he felt his hands on the sides of her tiny waist as she was picked up into the air. "Let's see if this works too." Though she had a feeling of what was about to happen and didn't really agree with it, she didn't dare argue because she needed Ventus to train her. In a few moments, she was plopped down onto the griffin's broad back, right in front of its wings. "Hold on." The sternness in his voice caused Wendy to instantly follow his orders, grabbing bunches of soft feathers in her hands. The gryffon turned toward the cliff and walked right up to the edge of it. She didn't see because he was behind her, but the air fairy had a bright grin on his face. "And have fun!" He shouted before smacking the beast's rear, causing it to leap off the edge of the cliff, miny dragon slayer and all.

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><p><strong>I apologize. Not only was I delayed by school, but this was a much longer chapter than I usually write. I hope you enjoyed it any way. Please read and review :)<strong>


	12. Scroll-12

**Hello to everyone who has been reading. I truly apologize for not being able to upload as often as I'd like. The copy-and-paste still doesn't work on my computer, the internet is iffy at best, and finals are coming up. School makes it hard for my friend and I to work together to proof-read, but we try anyway. I hope you enjoy the chapter even after so much time in between.**

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><p>The iron fairy did not scream, but definitely had an expression of shock on her face as her body moved over the bright pit of lava. One of the small fairies who was close to her tried to grab her hand, but to no avail. When she was nearly at the other side of the basin, Ferrum attempted to fly with her wings. The thin blades scraped against the rock behind her and became useless as they bent at painful-looking angles. Realizing that her wings would be ripped out of her back if she allowed them to become stuck in the rock, the fairy kicked off the wall and continued to move downward. She landed heavily on a slab that had been floating in the magma, causing it to dip down where she placed her foot. Though it wasn't much, the lava rose enough to reach Ferrum's heel, burning through her boot almost instantly and searing flesh. The iron fairy bit her bottom lip so hard that scarlet blood dripped out of her mouth in her attempt to not scream. When she wrenched her foot free, she nearly fell down, barely keeping herself up by balancing with her tail. She winced as she tried to place her burned foot down on the rock.<p>

"Ferrum-dono! Are you alright?!" One of the small fairies asked before it flew down to look its leader in the face. The larger fairy did not respond verbally, but instead nodded, putting on as brave a face as she could. Trying several times unsuccessfully, the little fairy attempted to lift Ferrum out of the lava pit by the back of her jacket.

"You should go before you get too tired to fly yourself out." The iron fairy told her subordinate. Unclear if it was a suggestion or an order, the petite fairy followed it anyway, flying up toward the group who had gathered around the pit, looking in. Ferrum glanced around, searching for a way to escape. Drip, drip. Her dark eyes slid downward toward the slab she was standing on. A few droplets of a silver colored liquid were behind her. _'Shit, it's too hot down here. My wings are starting to melt.'_ It would only be a matter of time before they disappeared completely. And as if things couldn't get any worse, the platform she was standing on was beginning to crumble around the edges. A sly smile brought itself to her lips, revealing her pointed teeth._ 'Perfect.'_

"Hey, Brat!" Her voice echoed through the previously silent cavern. Gajeel dropped to his knees and leaned over the edge to get a better view of the large iron fairy. "This'll be your first lesson. Get me out of here. Better get creative, iron melts at these temperatures!" She was grinning like an idiot as the dragon slayer stared at her with a look of disbelief on his face.

'Well, that confirms it. Ferr is officially crazy.' He thought to himself grimly. _'Now how am I gonna get her out of there?'_ Gajeel wasn't one who regularly made plans, but he figured he had to at least try. He turned to face a fairy who was kneeling next to him. "Hey, what's your name?"

The mythical creature flinched at the dragon slayer's voice. He was one of the larger fairies in human form, but was still small, skinny enough to show bones poking out from beneath his ghost-white skin. The pale rags he was wearing only made it that much more obvious. His wings and tail were similar to Ferr's in style, but were slightly shinier in the red light. He also had the same black hair, but his was flecked with tiny strands of silvery wisps. There were bands of a heavy metal bound to his wrists. Wide eyes whiter than milk housed pupils that were like endless caverns without light.

"M-me?" He let out, barely more than a whisper.

"Yes, you. What's your name?" Impatience began to creep into the slayer's voice.

If he was a human, the fairy would have been no older than 14 or 15 years old. "Wolfram." He whispered. His eyes flickered down into the pit at the sound of crumbling rock beneath the female fairy.

_'Hm, I'm sure I've heard that somewhere before...'_ The dragon slayer shrugged off his feelings of suspicion. "How hot is the lava in the pit?" He asked, trying to keep his voice steady to not scare the weak-looking fairy.

"Well," Wolfram was staring intensely downward at his bony fingers. "N-normal lava is usually between 700 to 1,200 degrees Celsius, but here it's northward 1,600 because we use it to the heat the iron ore." A sudden flood of panic crashed over the fairy's sharp features. "Ferrum-dono's wings are made of iron! If they melt completely, she won't be able to get out of there!" The emaciated fairy would have jumped off the edge if the slayer hadn't grabbed his twig-like arm and pulled him back.

"That's why I need your help!" Gajeel didn't like admitting when he needed help, but he knew exactly when he needed to. "I can only make iron. Are there any other metals here that we can use?" The fairy looked shocked and almost angry that the dragon slayer had stopped him from leaping over the cliff. It quickly turned to annoyance, surprising Gajeel.

"Take your hand off of me, human!" The fairy didn't look like he could win against the mage in a thousand years, but his sharp tone caused the other to flinch. "Let's get one thing straight; This isn't your world. It's ours and you have to follow our rules." Though most of Wolfram was unusually white, his pointed fangs seemed to stand out even more against the scarlet glow of the magma. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before reopening them toward the slayer. They were no longer timid, but full of ferocity. "Now I get why you need training. You don't think too much before you act, do you?" Wolfram continued in his acidic voice without waiting for a reply. "You at least started on the right track. You clearly can't use iron when you're near temperatures where it's going to melt. So what are you going to use?" A certain sarcastic tone that had been added to his questions just made the dragon slayer annoyed. The fairy crossed his legs and rested one of his elbows on a knee, his chin in his hand and a smile on his face.

_'This asshole's playing with me. What the hell was with the personality swap?'_ Gajeel growled to himself. He didn't really use any metal besides iron, so he didn't really know any of the others' stats about melting points and such. Then he remembered something he had noticed earlier. "Your name is Wolfram, right? I swear I've heard that somewhere before. What does it mean?" The dragon slayer didn't want to play the fairy's game, but he didn't have many options. Even from high up, he could see that Ferrum had less than half of her original wings.

"Ooh, I would have thought that it would have taken you longer to figure out." His smile turned sly as it broadened on one side. "Wolfram's another name for Tungsten, just like Ferrum's another name for Iron. The difference? Tungsten's melting point is close to 3,500 degrees Celsius, well beyond the temperature of the lava in that pit." The fairy was now leaning back, propping himself up with his hands that stretched out behind him.

"Then why haven't you done anything?!" Gajeel hated dealing with people who could have saved someone, but didn't. "Do you just like being an asshole?"

Wolfram's laugh sound like it came from a small child. "It's one of my favorite pastimes. However, that not the problem," He pointed one of his bony fingers toward the large man. "You're the one who stopped me from going over the edge to go help her." He interlocked his hands behind his head, but continued to sit up straight. "So now that you've got a metal that won't melt, what are you going to do?"

The great iron dragon slayer had been silenced. _'How on earth has no one murdered this kid yet? He's possibly the biggest jackass I have ever met.'_ Despite the fact that he currently wanted to strangle the fairy sitting in front of him, Gajeel knew that he would need his help to save Ferrum. "A ladder." He grumbled.

"Yeah, that sounds good." Wolfram smirked at the irritated look on the iron dragon slayer's face. "Was it really that hard?" His voice carried a mocking tone that only made Gajeel angrier, but the slayer held his tongue.

The fairy unclasped his hands from around the back of his head and brought them together in front of him in a prayer formation. A silvery light glowed from between them as he separated his hands, revealing what looked like a mass of skinny threads going back and forth between them. With a forceful heave, the fairy threw the majority of the mass down towards the stranded fairy, landing on one side of the crumbling rock. A mesmerizing spiderweb of shimmering, tungsten silk stretched from Wolfram's hands over the pit of lava. He stood up quickly and removed one of the clumped endings from his hands before placing it down on a rock near Gajeel. "Here, hold this down so that it doesn't slip." Without a word of retaliation, the slayer did as he was asked. Wolfram himself tightened the strands by wrapping them around his hand before bracing himself against another rock. "Ferrum-dono! Please start to climb, I don't know how long the bridge will be able to stay up!" The meekness that was in his voice earlier returned for the split second it took to shout his instructions to the other fairy.

_'That sounds like Wolfram. Maybe Gajeel is a little smarter than I thought.'_ The iron fairy thought as a nearly invisible smile crept to her face. "Alright, I'm coming!" She yelled back before limping over to the base of the netted web. Tiny barbs on the threads made them sticky as the fairy attempted to climb, using her winding tail in place of her burned foot. She almost looked like a monkey as she slowly ascended toward the top of the cliff. Only halfway there, the remainder of the rock that the fairy was previously standing on sunk below the surface, pulling down the end of the thin web. _'Shit!'_ Ferrum thought as she saw the two at the top struggling to not be pulled over the edge. "Don't move! I'm going to cut off the end of the net!" She shouted up to them before whipping her spiked tail through the threads so fast the it created a nice clean cut just below her boots. Now, thanks to gravity and physics, since Ferrum's ladder was no longer anchored, it began to drop, swinging toward the dark red face of the pit, and eventually slamming her into the rock. Scarlet blood trickled down the side of the fairy's face as she remained, unmoving, against the wall. Wolfram and Gajeel thought that she had been knocked out, but she was simply dizzy, unable to focus even on her own hands in front of her.

But since she was already against the wall anyway, they just pulled her up the rest of the way by the net. Once they dragged her over the edge, they saw that the only thing left of her wings were the torn holes in the back of her jeans jacket. Gajeel gently turned her face-up, making sure that her burned foot didn't hit anything. He wasn't sure if it was caused by the glow of the lava, but the blood on the side of her head seemed far too dark for normal blood. It took only moments for her sapphire eyes to flutter open. "Ugh, I have a headache." Despite the fact that she knew she shouldn't have, she immediately tried to sit up straight, gaining support from the other fairy to stop her from falling backwards. Her eyes snapped to his before he instantly dropped them to the floor. "It's alright, Wolfram." Her voice softened as if she thought talking to him any louder would scare him.

"Th-thank you, Ferrum-dono." He raised his head with a tiny smile on his face before Ferrum turned to face the iron dragon slayer.

"I guess your real training gets to start now. I think you'll have to work with Wolfram until my foot heals and my wings grow back. Is that alright?" The way that she said it, it didn't really sound like a question, which just made Gajeel more annoyed.

'_I have to work with that personality-changing brat! No way!'_ Just before he voiced his opposition, a certain metal fairy gave him a glare, daring him to say it. "Fine." He mumbled, defeated.

_'Looks like I have a new human to play with… '_ Wolfram's fangs glinted in the darkness as he smiled cruelly.

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><p><strong>Well, that's the end. Tell me what you think of Wolfram, and whether fire or air comes next, cause I kinda forgot :) 'Til next time.<strong>


	13. Scroll-13

**I'm sorry that it's been so long since I updated, I've just been very busy and distracted, a bad combination. Well, here is Chapter 13, after a long wait.**

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><p>'<em>What's going on?! This volcano should have stayed dormant for at least another hundred years!'<em> The fairy queen's body stood still as countless thoughts raced through her mind. '_Why didn't Carrie mention that another volcano was on the verge of erupting? It could have been that he didn't know, but that just raises further questions...'_ Her magma eyes remained open as rocks began to be spewed from the mouth of the volcano and fall like bombs down the side of the mountain, leaving behind trails of smoke.

"Hey, Flam!" By the third time he called her name, Natsu was able to get the fire fairy to snap out of her thoughts and focus on the problem that was right in front of them. "Whoa!" The dragon slayer had to leap out of the way of one of the falling rocks to prevent getting pummeled in the face. The smoke trail it left behind passed clear through where his head would have been. "What should we-" Another earthquake violently shook the ground, causing larger boulders to be knocked free and begin to roll down the hill.

"Natsu! Start evacuating the town!" Flam worked hard to keep her voice steady to prevent the spread of her panic. '_I guess I'll have to deal with Carrie later…'_ After watching the boy as he began to race down the hill, she returned her gaze to the mouth of the volcano as it continued to spew flaming rocks. The black smoke rose like a demon as it engulfed the sky, consuming the other clouds and sunlight that was in its way. She sighed as soon as she saw bright streams of lava start to creep out of the volcano's mouth and slide down the mountain. '_I'd hoped I wouldn't have to use _that_. I've already used too much strength to bring Natsu here.'_ Her eyes slid back to catch a quick glance of the pink-haired boy. He appeared to be getting the villagers to evacuate at a decent pace. '_Though, without him, I fear more lives would have been lost.'_

Her flat shoes shifted the small layer of soot that had already begun to accumulate as she turned and walked toward the summit of the mountain. Snowflakes made of ash fell around her, dropping out of the sky as a column of smoke continued to rise from the volcano. "_Great serpents of molten earth, listen to my plea. This place is not your world. You belong deep beneath us. I am sorry, but I can not allow you to advance any farther."_ Bands of writing made of blood-red flames began to spread from Flam's hands, slithering around the mouth of the volcano. "_Omnia desistite!"_ The blazing words constricted tightly around the flowing magma, slowing it to a stop on its descent down the mountain by pulling out the heat. The spilling lava transformed to match the blackened ground as the orange color dissipated. _COUGH, COUGH! 'Ugh, it hurts.'_ The fire empress clutched her hand to her chest as she dropped to one knee. '_I knew I didn't have the strength to do that...'_ After rising to her feet once again, the fairy turned and began to walk down the side of the volcano toward the village that was no longer in danger.

"Hey, Flam! Is it safe to come back yet?" Natsu shouted from where he and the inhabitants of the village were standing, a safe distance from the impending doom that had been stopped. She was barely able to raised her eyes toward the pink-haired boy, but she summoned her strength and nodded. "Alright, everyone. She says it's safe to come back now." Lifting the small, yellow-haired boy onto his shoulder, the dragon slayer began to lead the villagers back to their homes. Families with small children were trying to keep them under control as they herded them back into their houses. Other adults had walked up the mountainside to thank the fire empress. '_What's wrong with her? She looks so tired.'_ The boy's onyx eyes drifted toward the top of the mountain, catching sight of the blazing spell that had stopped the flowing lava. '_Did that use up her strength?'_

"Um, can you put me down?" The little yellow-haired fairy asked, trying his very best to not be rude to the leader of his country's friend.

"Oh, sure. Sorry." Natsu quickly let him down and watched as he ran over to his family. Seeing them be happy together made Natsu start to feel slightly homesick, remembering all of his friends that he had left behind. '_I'll just have to train really hard so that I can get back sooner! That's all there is to it!'_ Once again, the dragon slayer's signature grin graced his face, seeming to illuminate the dark world around him. He continued to smile as he watched Flam excuse herself from the crowd of people that surrounded her. It disappeared the instant she was close enough for him to notice that she was having trouble walking and could hear her gasping for breaths. "Hey! Are you alright?" Worry crept into his slightly panicked voice.

The fairy was barely able to raise her glowing eyes. "Yes. Let's keep moving. We need to reach the capital before sundown." The pink-haired boy tried to think of a way you would be able to tell if the sun had set or not, considering that the entire sky was covered in a thick layer of clouds. He pushed the thought aside, not thinking it important for the moment, as he slipped his shoulders underneath one of Flam's arms, supporting her as they walked.

'_We'll have to get back soon. I'm worried about how far Flam will be able to walk and I need her as a guide.'_ The boy thought to himself as he looked farther down the charred road that lay ahead of them.

After about an hour, Natsu realized what she meant about the sun setting. He had thought the cloud cover was dark before, but now it was nearing pitch black, causing the mountain tops to melt into the sky. The fires in the distance that had once been blazing brightly were dimming and were almost impossible to see anymore. Even the glowing cracks in the ground were losing their light. '_If we don't get to the capitol soon, we won't even be able to see where we're walking.'_ The boy shook the fairy who was leaning on him lightly. "Hey, Flam. Is this the right way?" He tried his best to not sound impatient, but he didn't really like traveling during the night in a place he didn't know.

The fairy woman raised her head and looked out in front of them with slowly paling eyes. "I-I think so… I can barely see anything." Not very encouraging words to the dragon slayer, but he knew they would simply have to keep moving. They were too far away from the small village to turn back and he hadn't seen anyone who he could ask for help along the road.

_KREEEEEE!_ A deafening screech fell from the heavens and sent a shiver down Natsu's spine. He looked up in time to see a large, serpentine creature flying toward him and the fairy he was carrying. The gargantuan being landed in front of them, cracking the ground even more than it already was with its black talons. Its eyes burned gold whilst flames danced over its ruby scales. "_Who are you?"_ A deep voice rumbled from the flying serpent's chest. Natsu then realized that the creature had no wings, but was able to fly to them any way.

"Um, my name is Natsu and this is Flam. We're heading to the capitol." Not particularly scared, simply curious, the pink-haired boy answered just like he would to any other. And after a light-bulb went off in his head. "Hey!" With a bright grin on his face. "Do you know Igneel?! He's my dad!" A hint of surprise flicked in the creature's eyes, but it was barely visible.

"_Ho, ho! So you are his child. And if that is indeed the empress, Flamma, which it appears to be, then I would be honored to fly you both to the capitol."_ As the being walked closer, Natsu was able to see how large it actually was, its head about the size of large car. He had some difficulty pulling the nearly unconscious fire fairy onto the creature's back, but he was able to get her there eventually. "_Are you ready to go?"_ There was no hint of impatience, but the being seemed anxious for them to get moving soon, as if uneasy staying on the ground for so long.

"Yep." Responded Natsu as he slipped one of his arms around Flam's waist and used his opposite hand to grasp one of the horns sticking out of the creature's head. "By the way, what's your name?" The curious dragon slayer asked as the group of three lifted almost silently off the ground.

"_You may call me Fen Fen."_ His voice became hard to understand as they picked up speed while they flew through the dark sky. Natsu couldn't tell exactly how fast they were going, but he could see small blazes on the ground whizzing by them as they flew. After a few minutes, he caught sight of something in the distance. A castle of black marble built right into the side of an even darker mountain. Two tall towers held enormous torches with fires that could be seen from miles around. "_That is the capital. We will be landing in a few seconds."_ The creature informed its passengers as it began its descent.

The large pair of intricately carved double doors at the front of the palace were yanked open for the creature to fly through, luckily, right before he rammed his nose into them. It occurred to Natsu at that point that maybe the creature he was riding on needed a little more practice at landing. The fire queen was jolted awake by the screeching of the creature's talons on the marble floor as he tried to not crash into the wall. '_What on earth is going on…?'_ She, of course, recognized her own home, so she assumed that everything was alright, and allowed herself to close her eyes once again.

"Flamma-dono!" Carrie, along with what looked like a squadron of palace guards, came racing into the room. The guards, dressed in scarlet armor and armed with spears, circled around the group of three who had crashed through the main entrance. "At ease!" The black-haired fairy yelled to his subordinates, as if angry that they would dare to point their weapons toward their empress. The guardsman did as they were ordered, but didn't seem to really relax, leaving an air of tension in the room. The leader turned his blood-red eyes toward Natsu. "My apologies. Things have been a little uneasy here because Flamma-dono was gone for so long." He approached the group of three and offered his arms up toward the dragon slayer, who gently guided the fire queen's body down to him. "You two," The fairy motioned guards to come toward him. "Take the empress to her chambers and see that there is someone to watch over her until she awakens." The other two fairies nodded at their orders and followed them after receiving the queen from Carrie's arms.

"The rest of you, find this dragon a place to rest as thanks for bringing Flamma-dono back safely." The other guards also followed their orders without question, guiding the enormous creature through the pair of doors that had been opened for its arrival.

Natsu, who had been shocked into silence by the whole ordeal, finally relaxed. "Whew! Am I glad that you're here! If it were anyone else I was worried that we were gonna be charged with kidnapping the empress or some-agh!" Mostly because he had closed his eyes while he was talking, the pink-haired boy didn't see the larger fairy come at him until Carrie had him pinned up against the marble wall. Natsu had difficulty breathing as the fairy's forearm became wedged further into his throat. White hairline cracks appeared against the black of the wall. '_What?! Why did he attack me?!'_

"I had left you alone with Flamma-dono because I trusted her enough to not bring anyone dangerous here. However, she comes back unconscious and reeking of powerful magic, as if she had to defend herself." The fairy's crimson eyes looked like they were trying to burn into Natsu's soul. "So, I want you to tell me. Who are you and what did you do to her." The malice in his voice raked against the dragon slayer's ears. He repositioned his arm across Natsu's neck in order to use his hand to yank on the boy's hair, forcing him to face the ceiling. "And if I don't like your answers…" _SHHNK _From a sheath on his back, the black-haired fairy removed a hooked dagger made of dark obsidian and placed the cold blade against Natsu's throat, slicing a thin line of blood from which a simple drop trickled down.

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><p><strong>Also, this chapter hasn't really been proof-read because I wanted to upload it as quickly as I could, so I apologize for any mistakes in grammar or gaps in the story-telling. Again, I'm sorry that it's been so long :( Please Read and Review<strong>


	14. Scroll-14

**Hello! I know it's been a while, but I promise that I've had a busy summer. Between, karate six days a week, not strangling annoying campers, and boring summer homework, it's been rough. I hope you enjoy this chapter even though my friend didn't have a chance to proofread it. :)**

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><p>'<em>Okay, category 5 psycho alert!'<em> Was the first thought that raced through Natsu's head as he looked down at the fairy who had a blade against his throat. "H-how about you lower your knife and we talk this out?" The dragon slayer tried his best to keep his voice as friendly as possible. He didn't want to start an unnecessary fight in Flam's home and definitely not with someone who was clearly very loyal to her, no matter how much he liked to fight.

If the scarlet-eyed fairy was thinking about Natsu's suggestion, he certainly wasn't showing it on his face that was hardened into a scowl. Slowly, Carrie removed his dagger and re-sheathed it as he gradually lowered the pink-haired boy to the floor. '_That's good. It looks like he'll still listen to reason.'_ Natsu was worried about what have happened if the fairy refused to talk.

"Explain." It was an order spoken in a voice that _dared _you to question it or even think about talking back. The dragon slayer didn't particularly want to look into the eyes of the infuriated fairy, but did so anyway to prevent any suspicion of him lying.

Taking a deep breath, the teen readied himself to tell the story. "A while after you left Flam and me," The fairy's ear twitched at how informally the dragon slayer addressed his leader, but did not interrupt him. "we came across a small village near the base of 'dormant' volcano that was on the verge of erupting. At first it was just this little blob of lava that was crawling down the mountain side, but after Flam stopped that, the whole thing started to erupt!" The excellent storyteller Natsu was using his arms to help show exactly what the volcano had looked like. "Then, she started to use some weird spell that looked like words made of flames that flew everywhere and stopped the volcano. About an hour later, the sun started to set and a dragon, Fen Fen, found us and took us here." The dragon slayer ended while pointing at the floor with both index fingers. Both of them seemed to relax as the story unfolded, but a small amount of tension remained in the room.

The fairy seemed to be thinking deeply about the tale he just heard. '_Trying to stop a fully erupting volcano by herself would definitely cause Flamma-dono to lose consciousness.'_ He brought his hand up to cup his chin as he thought. '_But what was that other thing she mentioned when I saw her earlier.'_ He brought his eyes back up to meet the ones that belonged to the young dragon slayer. "Why are you here?" Although his face looked less threatening than it once was, Carrie's voice remained cold and unwavering.

Natsu took a second deep breathe. "Well, after fourteen years, I finally found my dad Igneel and then I met Flam, and she fought in some really weird way and took my magic out… I'm not really sure, I really wasn't paying attention when they explained it later, but anyway, after I asked Igneel a couple times he said that he would test me to make me a true dragon slayer, but said that I wasn't strong enough, so he sent me here with Flem for training." Slightly winded and gulping for air after his explanation, the dragon slayer watched the fairy's overwhelmed face as he processed all the information that had been thrown at him all at once.

"O...kay." Carrie didn't look like he knew how to deal with what he just heard, but decided to deal with the part he _did_ understand. "Wait, where was the volcano that had erupted?" He thought it was odd that he didn't know about this other, threatening volcano.

"Um," Natsu thought for a moment. "I think it was that way." He answered, pointing a finger out the large double doors that were open to a pitch black sky. The fairy standing next to him sweatdropped.

_'Yeah, 'cause that's reeeeeal helpful.'_ The scarlet-eyed fairy let out a small sigh. "Alright, I'll have some guys check it out tomorrow and see if it needs a more permanent seal." Carrie thought to himself for a moment. '_Now, what am I gonna do with him until Flamma-dono wakes-'_

"There you are! I was wondering how we got back!" The empress of the fire fairies leaned over the side of the railing as she struggled to walk down the stairs back into the great hall.

"Flamma-dono! You should be resting!" Carrie instantly took flight up towards where his leader was just beginning to lose her grip on the mahogany banister. "What are you doing up?!" Worry ran out of his voice like water through a crack in a dam as he wrapped one of his arms around her slim waist to keep her from falling.

"I needed to find Natsu." She answered simply to the other fairy. "I promised Igneel-sama that I would train him for his test." The black-haired fairy let out a sigh.

"Well, you can't train him until you, yourself, recover." Suddenly, an devilish grin appeared on the queen's face.

"What about _you_?" Carrie visibly paled. Natsu had rushed over to the stairway as soon as the other fairy did, so he was able to hear most of the conversation.

'_Eh?! I don't want to train with a guy who was holding a knife to my throat a few seconds ago.'_ The dragon slayer showed that he was displeased by the unfortunate expression plastered on his face.

"Don't be so overjoyed." The fairy responded to Natsu when she saw him. "It'll only be for a few days." She turned her head to the other fairy. "You too. I expect you to be the adult. Now, please take Natsu to a room he can use for the night. You'll start bright and early tomorrow morning and I don't want whining to be the first thing I hear."

"Yes, ma'am." Carrie muttering in return, allowing the queen to regain her grip on the handrail before turning his attention to the dragon slayer. "Follow me." He ordered, but not unkindly. '_How on Earth did I end up with baby-sitting duty?'_

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><p>Wendy didn't even have time to think about screaming as the gryffon beneath her plummeted off of the cliff. The wind blasted past her face, causing her hair to fly wildly and her eyes to tear up slightly. Her brown eyes had been forced closed by the pressure of the speeding winds that tore past her. Her palms became clammy from holding onto the slick feathers of the gryffon for dear life. They continued to soar downward, the beast pushing mounds of clouds out of their way with giant wings. '<em>How high are we?! We've been falling for a long time.'<em>

"You close your eyes a lot, don't you? If you don't open them, you won't be able to see the view." Ventus's voice cut through the deafening wind as the falling creature began to level out, flying on a new path horizontally instead of straight down. The gryffon slowed down only slightly, but it was enough to allow Wendy to open her eyes.

"Wow!" Spreading out in all directions was a glistening, bright blue ocean. Speckles of white drifted over the waves as they moved smoothly from the breeze. As she looked to her left, she caught sight of Ventus as he flew beside her beating his own feathered wings to keep up with the beast who carried her gently. As her gaze drifted upward, she caught sight of the brilliantly white clouds that covered the sky. A few lone puff-balls drifted just above the surface of the water, but they, too, parted for the winged creature to pass. The gryffon slowly lowered one of his taloned feet down to the water, creating a small trail of mist and spray where the surface was broken.

Wendy closed her eyes again, taking in a deep breath. She felt the salty air run its graceful fingers through her hair, caressing each strand, leaving a piece of itself behind as a gift. Not a single other living being was there besides the three of them, but that didn't stop the young dragon slayer from feeling the life that seemed to pulsate all around them. '_It's so beautiful, and so simple at the same time.'_ She had seen the ocean by Fiore many times and it always amazed her, but this one she was over right now was so different, she could hardly believe they were made of the same water.

"Well, I think that it's time we should be heading back, don't you? There's not really much to see here, but I thought you'd like it." The fairy said to the young girl while attempting to hide the small smile that crept to his lips. Wendy nodded in response, even though she truthfully wanted to stay a little longer.

The gryffon began to beat its feathered wings with much more force than before, causing them to pick up speed. Just as when they had gone down, the trio shot up through the enormously thick cloud layer that separated the ocean from the floating islands. "EEP!" Wendy nearly screamed as a bundle of swinging roots burst through the clouds only a few inches away from ripping her from the winged creature's back.

"That just means we're getting close, don't pay it any attention." Ventus replied to the girl's scream as he, himself, weaved throughout the quickly increasing number of roots. "Follow me." He instructed the mythical beast that started to mimic his moves, chasing him like a shadow in and out of the web-like roots. After escaping the winding mass and rounding one waterfall, the fairy led them back onto the top of one of the islands, landing on soft green grass. The gryffon was forced to tread carefully so that it did not crush any of the small stone statues that littered the field.

"So, Wendy, why do you think that Igneel-san and Metalicana-san fear Grandine-sama?" Ventus sat with his legs criss-crossed as his tail lightly brushing against the soft grass, his wings lying down his shoulders. Wendy pondered his question with her back pressed up next to the side of the gryffon that laid down behind her.

"She is stronger than them?" The dragon slayer thought that her mother was strong, but she knew that neither of the other dragons would be weak.

The fairy smiled slightly. "Not quite. If it was based on pure strength, Metalicana-san would definitely have the upper hand."

"Hm," The girl thought more. "Skill?"

"Not even that. Grandine-sama is more skilled in healing than fighting. I hate to admit it, but I think the fire-eaters have the most skill in combat. Their element is so unstable that they must take many years to master it and a great amount of their training is how to use it while fighting. Control is a big focus so they don't hurt people by accident." The emperor watched as the dragon slayer in front of him attempted to come up with another reason why her mother would be so feared. "Try thinking about adaptability." He waited for a few moments, giving the girl some time to think with this new information, but continued when he saw her return to his face with a confused expression. "Beyond a certain temperature, those metalheads can't use their materials anymore, they'll melt. And the flame brains can't fight once they use up all the oxygen in the air." A light bulb went off over the dragon slayer's head.

"And neither of them work underwater!" Wendy shouted as she leaned toward the fairy with a bright smile on her face that turned downward as Ventus laughed.

"Yeah, well, we don't do so great underwater either." The fairy let out a few more chuckles before he was able to regain his composure. "Using moist air, Grandine-sama is able to reduce the iron that Metalicana-san is so proud of into a pile of rust and by simply removing a single compound, she is able to make it so that Igneel-san's flames can't last a single flicker." He locked his blue eyes with the girl's brown ones. "Air isn't good for heavy hitting and is easy to deflect, so it's good to know the best way to use your opponent's weakness against them."

Wendy eyes shone brightly with admiration. '_He knows so much! I must be sure to study as hard as I can in order to pass Grandine's test!'_ Determination oozed out of every possible pore on the young girl.

**Ventus chuckled. "Since you're so eager to get started, come with me. We have a lot of work ahead of us." The fairy stood up and began to walk through on of the thick white clouds, disappearing shortly afterwards. Wendy hopped to her feet and followed him, keeping her eyes open as her form dissipated in the white.**

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><p><strong>I still think that Ferr might be my favorite of the fairies, but it's questionable with Flam (I thought of them first and made Ventus on the fly <strong>no pun intended**) Next time, we're going to see snippets of all three training, then they'll hard back for their tests. I hope you enjoyed!**


	15. Scroll-15

**Hello, everyone! I know that this has taken a lot longer than any other chapter I've written, so I've taken note of that and am ****_never_**** going to write a chapter that is this long ever again.**

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><p><em>About two weeks into training…<em>

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><p>"I want to see it again! And this time, don't make it obvious that you're going to do something!" A certain female iron fairy called from across the open field to the dragon slayer she was sparring. The man's breath came out in ragged gasps, but he did not lower his head. His red eyes looked straight back to the fairy dark sapphire ones, attempting to bore their way through her skull. Both fighters were cover in small scratches and bruises, but nothing particularly serious.<p>

'_Keh! I'll make it so that she doesn't see it coming from a mile away.'_ Gajeel took a deep breath to ready himself, shortly before charging toward the fairy. The iron queen had no trouble simply stepping to the side, allowing the dragon slayer to pass her along with a gust of wind.

"Is that all you've got?!" She shouted tauntingly to the man as his back was turned to her, only a few steps from her feet. A grin traced over Gajeel lips as he leapt up before planting both of his feet on the side of a tree trunk and pushing off, shattering the wood and catching the fairy by surprise as he bounded back towards her at full speed.

"_Iron Dragon's Roar!"_ A tornado of metal shards blasted toward Ferrum as she started with wide eyes. A few inches before the magic struck her, however, she dropped her stance, allowing the deadly shrapnel to pass over her harmlessly. Once the storm was gone, she stood back up, landing a solid punch right in the center of Gajeel's chest, causing him to fly back until he crashed into one of the countless pale trees.

"Better, but still a little too slow." The iron fairy commented with a straight face, not even bothering to tease the dragon slayer as he staggered to his feet. '_Then again, Metalicana-sama isn't exactly the fastest person in the world either. Now that he's gotten faster, I think I'll start making him stronger so that he can use it after he's created a decent opening.'_

"My lady! It is time to eat!" Wolfram called from the entrance of one of the mines as he fluttered in the air on his small wings. He had been training the dragon slayer at first, but once Ferr's foot healed, he was put in charge of keeping everything under control in the mines, much to Gajeel's pleasure.

"Thanks!" She called back before turning toward her pupil. "Hey, Brat! Chow time!" At the mention of free food, it took only seconds for the exhausted dragon slayer to catch up with the iron fairy as she walked toward the mouth of the cave. '_How am I gonna train him for strength, though? There's only so much you can do about the strength of iron.'_ She sighed and raked her hands through her black hair. '_I've got to come up with something...'_ "Hey, Brat,"

"What?" Gajeel responded roughly. He didn't take particularly kindly to being called 'brat' all the time by someone who wasn't his father. The fairy ignored his tone, assuming that he simply spoke to everyone in that manner.

"Do you know what it means to 'temper' a metal?" The dragon slayer looked surprised at Ferr's question, but did not have to think for a long time before answering.

"Yeah, isn't that where they fold the metal over and over again when they're forging it?" He raised an eyebrow toward the woman who walked next to him. She nodded before responding.

"Have you ever thought about that while you've been fighting someone or even training by yourself?" The fairy inquired as the two of them turned in to the mouth of the cavern, beginning to walk deeper into the hillside.

"Why would I? Doesn't that only matter when you're actually forging the metal?" Gajeel seemed to become more annoyed than curious from the fairy's barrage of questions, but continued to listen as they sat down on two rocks inside the cave while Wolfram flew over to them with food.

"I'll explain after lunch." She answered quickly as she started to gulp down the food that was on the plate in front of her, shortly before munching on even the fork she had been eating with. The dragon slayer shrugged and began to eat his own food. He wasn't brave enough to ask what it was, but it tasted good and he was even allowed to eat the silverware, so he didn't really care.

After both of them finished eating, they stood up and began to start walking toward the entrance of the cave. Suddenly, Ferr stopped in her tracks, almost causing the dragon slayer to run into her. "Hey, don't just stop in front of people!" He yelled down to her, but she acted as if she didn't hear a word he said.

She turned back toward the heart of the cave and leaned to the side to look around Gajeel. "Hey, Wolfram!" The other fairy twitched at the sound of his name. "Come with us for a second, will ya?" The thin metal eater seemed nervous, but followed the other two anyway, not wanting to ignore a direct order from the queen.

Once outside, Ferr jumped up and flew several yards in front of the two males. "Wolfram, can you make a big block of tungsten here for me?" She asked, pointing down towards the ground. The other fairy hesitated slightly, but eventually flew forward and did as she asked, creating the material that took the size of a small bus. "Thank you very much." She smiled as Wolfram bowed slightly before fluttering quickly back inside.

_BOOM!_ An echoing crash resonated through the valley and rung in the dragon slayer's ears. "What was that?!" He hissed to the fairy as he covered his ears.

Silently, Ferr lifted her hand and pointed into the distance. "Look." Gajeel's red eyes followed the fairy's finger until they caught sight of a column of pitch black smoke. The top edge of the cloud looked like a mouth as it consumed the normal sky above it.

"What is that?" He asked after turning back to the iron queen.

"One of the volcanoes in the land of fire seems to be erupting." Her sapphire eyes remained unchanging as they stayed locked on the plume in the distance.

"Should we be worried?" Gajeel wasn't really the type for worrying, but he knew that volcanoes were deadly and that one of his friends was over in that kingdom. His question caused the fairy to start giggling.

"Nah, they've got it under control."She turned back to face the dragon slayer. "Now, let's get back to this big block that Wolfram made for us. Watch me. _Iron Fairy's Sword!_" Resting in the palm of her hand was a thin long sword that shimmered in the light. "Now, this is made of the same iron that you use with your magic." She said before jumping into the air. After flipping once, she brought that blade down onto the corner of the metal block, causing to snap in two with a deafening ring. The tungsten was left unharmed, without even a single scratch.

'_What was the point of that? Of course it was going to break against tungsten.'_ The dragon slayer thought inside his head as he watched the fairy come back down onto the ground, holding both pieces of the sword. Suddenly, he noticed that she was pouring a ton of magic power into the metal, making it swell as she held the shards one on top of the other. Slowly, she began to pull on both sides, causing the metal to stretch. Once it was long enough, she folded it over and began to stretch it again. After repeating the process many times, she started to form the metal back into the shape of a sword.

Remade, the blade looked almost no different except that it was a little brighter when it caught the sun's light. "Now, look again." Once again, she leapt into the air and brought the sword down onto the block, but this time, instead of breaking the sword, it was the tungsten that gave way, causing an enormous chunk to be carved off.

"Wow…" Not many things surprised Gajeel, but this was pretty impressive. He started to grin, showing off his elongated canines. "Once I learn how to do that, there's no way I'll lose to my old man!"

Ferrum sweatdropped when she looked at the dragon slayer. '_This isn't really something you can learn at the drop of a hat and I'm not quite sure that you're patient enough for it. The training for it is slow and hard and usually has a lot of setbacks, but… maybe you have a chance. After all, Metalicana-sama did say that you were ready to be tested.'_ Her smile toward the dragon slayer slowly turned into a grin. "Then we'd better get started."

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><p>"Once again, Natsu! Try to make your flames smaller and faster!" Flam called from the soot black tree she was sitting in as she observed the dragon slayer fight with her lieutenant. '<em>He's getting better, but he's still so young. Igneel-sama, are you sure this is a good idea?'<em> Her face suddenly turned a whiter shade of pale, realising that it had been _her_ idea to have the dragon slayers train with the fairies to pass their tests. It had only been Gajeel at first, but she pulled the other two into it as well. '_If something goes wrong, then it's all my fault!'_ She started pounding on her head with her fists in a childish manner. '_Dammit, I've got to learn to think before opening my big mouth!'_ She let out a sigh and returned her gaze to the two men fighting in front of her.

"_Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"_ The pink haired boy shouted into the air before charging at Carrie for nearly the hundredth time that day. This time, however, instead of the flames billowing out uselessly everywhere and hitting everything that _wasn't_ the target, Natsu managed to have them more concentrated around his fist and forearm, both preventing damage on things he wasn't planning on hitting and making the strike much more powerful.

After smoothly sidestepping the boy's punch, Carrie quickly launched his own flaming hand back toward the dragon slayer, who chomped out a bit of the fire before dodging. "_Fire Dragon's Roar!"_ The pink haired boy returned the fairy's fire right back toward his head without a moment's delay. Carrie once again slipped out of the way, but this time moved backwards to create space between him and the dragon slayer.

Natsu stood only a few yards from the fairy, but the black haired man could still see the smoke slowly trickling out of the boy's mouth. Both of them were breathing heavily, they had been fighting all morning. Carrie's eyes slid upward slightly and saw that a piece of his dark hair had been singed by the flames. '_He's picking up speed and seems to be getting the idea of control down.'_

"_Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!"_ The slayer charged straight for the fairy, engulfing himself in flames as he prepared for an intense head butt.

Carrie sweatdropped at the scene. '_He's got to work on finesse a little. He's still a bit too blunt.'_ This time, to dodge, the fairy created his flaming wings and jumped up above the pink haired boy. Once Natsu was right underneath him, he brought his feet together and stomped straight down on his back, making a small crater in the ground around the dragon slayer. "Uh… You alright?" Carrie had stepped off of Natsu and was looking down at the unmoving form of the pink haired boy.

"Carrie-sama! Flamma-dono!" A man clad in dark red armor came racing over toward the training trio. "Mount Parve has started erupting and the sealers are requesting extra assistance!" He announced as he bowed before the two other fairies.

The queen turned to her right hand man. "We'd better go." She quickly hopped out of the tree and began to follow the guard who had come to get them.

"But what about…" Carrie pointed helplessly down toward the still unconscious dragon slayer.

"Just leave him." Flam responded when she turned back around. "Fen-Fen will keep an eye on him." With that, all three fairies took off into the soot filled sky.

'_Ugh, my back hurts...'_ The dragon slayer felt so tired that he didn't want to open his eyes even if the end of the world was going on. He curled his fingers and toes, in and back out. '_That's good. Looks like I'm not paralyzed.'_ He remembered Lucy saying something about that with back and neck injuries, but he never thought he would actually need such information.

"Are you awake, Natsu?" A deep voice rumbled from above him.

"I think so." The dragon slayer mumbled back. His aching body told him not to, but he proceeded to prop himself up on his elbows to get a look at who was talking to him. Appearing in his vision was the dragon, Fen-Fen, standing over him at the top of what looked like a small cliff. Natsu glanced around and realised that it was because he was in what looked like a crater that sunk into the black earth. He sat up completely, criss-crossing his legs beneath him. "Where are Flam and that Carrie dude?"

"A few moments ago, one of the armed guards came and informed them of a volcano erupting. They left to go assist in stopping it." The dragon responded with an unchanging expression.

"Ooh! That's sounds exciting! Let's go!" Seeming to ignore his exhaustion and previous injuries, Natsu leapt to his feet and jumped on the dragon's back. Not waiting for a second longer, Fen-Fen took off into the air following the scent of the fairies, with the rest of his body slithering behind him. "Do you know which direction they went?"

"Yes. This way." The large serpent banked heavily to the right and picked up speed, nearly shaking off the dragon slayer.

After only a few seconds, a strong smell hit Natsu's nose, causing him to bring both hands over it. '_Agh! What is that?! It smells awful!'_ Even though his eyes were starting to water, he was still able to open them widely when he caught sight of what was causing the stench. Enormous plumes of black smoke billowed out of the mouth of a volcano that they were coming up to. Chunks of flaming rocks flew through the sky, landing either in the forest or on top of one of the houses at the base of the mountain. "Fen-Fen! Take us down! We have to help!"

"Already on it!" Shouted the serpent beck to his rider. '_That is the smell of earth scorched by hatred-fueled fire, young one, a smell you are lucky to have not yet encountered.'_ He thought as they descended. The sudden drop in altitude caused Natsu's ears to pop, but he didn't particularly care about that at the moment. Just before they touched the ground, that dragon slayer hopped off his friend and started running toward the erupting volcano.

"Start helping people get away! I'm going to look for Flam!" Was all the boy shouted back before disappearing into the burning trees. Natsu tried desperately to find the scent of either of the fairies that he knew, but to no avail. However, through his stinging eyes, he was able to catch sight of the fire queen's brilliant red hair. "Hey, Flam!" He called as she snapped her head around to look at him.

"_Natsu, Look out!"_ She screamed back toward the dragon slayer.

His black eyes quickly torn away from the fairy to look at the enormous, blazing rock, the size of a house barreling toward him. He was about to jump out of the way when he glanced back and saw a pair of small fairy children cowering in fear behind him. '_If I move, they'll be crushed. That means...'_ He turned back to face the stone menace rolling toward him. He took a deep breath. Even though he was already exhausted from his training, he would have to do this. "_With a flame on the right hand… and a flame on the left hand… When you combine the flames together… __**Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!**_" After first creating the flames in each and bringing them together, Natsu pushed the blaze forward with immense force as streams of fire danced around him. The core of the blast struck the rock in the center and blew through it, causing it to shatter into hundreds of small rocks and pebbles that fell like rain around the dragon slayer.

The fire queen watched in amazement, '_Maybe he's stronger than I thought.'_ until one of the flying pebbles hit the boy in the forehead and knocked him onto his back. '_Then again, maybe not.'_ She fought the urge to laugh before turning her head back toward the mouth of the volcano. "Everybody ready?!" She shouted to the other fairies who would help her form the seal. "Go!" At her command, enormous bands of glow red words erupted from all the sealers and began to circle up and around the top of the volcano. After a few moments, no more smoke came out of the gaping hole. "Carrie! Make sure that everything's completely sealed!" Was the last command she yelled before running over to the dragon slayer.

"You've got quite a bit of stamina, young man." She said as she stood over Natsu who was looking at her with one eye closed and his signature grin plastered on his face. He tried to speak, but drifted into unconsciousness before he could get his words out. She bent down and laid one of his arms across her shoulders before standing up. "Let's get back, huh? We've still got to work on that control of yours, or rather, the lack thereof."

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><p>"Hey, it's time to wake up, Wendy." Ventus informed the girl as he nudged her side with his foot as he attempted to rouse her. He wasn't angry, but he was slowly losing his patience.<p>

"Five more minutes." She mumbled as she rolled over in the soft grass that made her bed. The fairy let out a light sigh, shortly before walking away and disappearing into the trees, returning with a wooden bucket. "EEK!" She screamed as the freezing water was dumped over her sleeping form. "What was that for?!" Instantly, she stood up and started twisting her hair in an attempt to start remove the water.

"We needed to get back to training and you were still sleeping." The fairy answered simply. "Once you've dried yourself off, meet my by the Sun Shrine." As he walked away from the girl through the thick trees, the bright grass drifted softly beneath his tail.

"Yes, Ventus-san." Wendy responded just before the fairy walked out of earshot. After a few moments of wringing out her small dress, the dragon slayer called in a warm breeze, drying off the rest of the water that covered her. '_It's not like I have trouble drying myself off, I just wish that he didn't dump water on me.'_ She thought as she followed the path of the fairy through the lush forest.

The parting trees revealed an endless field of green grass that bent over gently as the gusts of wind blew by. The young dragon slayer walked quickly, but took care to not trip over any of the tiny stone statues that littered the ground. After making her way over a small hill, she caught sight of the fairy emperor. The 'Sun Shrine' wasn't really a building or anything, it was simply a statue that was larger than the others and had a small sun carved in it. According to the fairy, the statues had been there from long before even the dragons walked the earth, allowing their secrets to be lost to time. The man sat cross-legged in the bright grass with a small white bunny on his right knee, eating out of his hand. In front of him were several glass perfume bottles with brilliantly colored liquids in them.

His eyes flicked away from the bunny for a moment to look at the girl who had approached him. "Take a seat." He motioned in front of him with the hand that the bunny wasn't currently eating out of. Wendy sat down curiously looking at the small rabbit, but not wanting to seem impatient. "Now, pick up a bottle and smell its contents. I will warn you, don't hold it too close to your nose." The girl gave him a strange look, but did as she was instructed, gently grabbing a bottle full of a yellow liquid. She tried to see if his expression gave any hint as to what was inside, but the fairy's face remained unchanged.

Pulling off the small top, the dragon slayer took in a long breath through her nose trying her best to identify the substance. '_It smells like garlic… Could it be…'_ "Arsenic?" Bewilderment was cloaked all over the young girl's face as she looked at the fairy.

"Hmm." He nodded in affirmation. Bringing his clean hand up to his chin, he took a few moments to think about something deeply before raising his head again. "Maybe a different day. Pick another." His blue eyes seemed to dance as they reflected the sun, but they could add no emotion to his stolid face.

Wendy inwardly shrugged. He could be rude and not very likeable, but if he had one thing going for him, it was that he was a hard man to figure out. Putting down the yellow-filled bottle, she began to reach her hand toward another bottle, this one full of a shimmering blue liquid. After pulling out the cork, the dragon slayer closed her eyes and took long breath of the scent in the bottle. She opened her eyes and looked back at the fairy. "It smells like almonds."

Ventus nodded. "What else smells like almonds?" He slowly stroked the back of the fluffy bunny while keeping his eyes on the girl in front of him.

The dragon slayer thought hard. '_Let's see, the arsenic was a poison, so maybe this one is too… Is it possibly,' _"Cyanide?" This time, she had more confidence in her brown eyes as she looked back at the fairy who nodded at her answer.

"Hand it to me." He said simply as he reached out with an open palm. Wendy gave it to him hesitantly, wondering why he would want it. Taking the small bottle in one hand, the fairy poured a small amount of the blue liquid into his other hand, that was holding the food the rabbit was eating. Without hesitating, he place the polluted food back underneath the rabbit's nose.

Not being able to tell that anything was wrong, the bunny began to munch away as it had been before. "Ah! What are you doing?!" The young dragon slayer cried out in anguish.

"Today, you will learn how to treat poisonings." As the fairy spoke, the bunny had already begun to wheeze and cough as it fell off of his knee and down into the soft grass. Wendy quickly crawled over to the bunny and pulled it closer to her as it already began to seize and its nose turned scarlet.

"What do I do?!" The dragon slayer nearly screamed at Ventus, whose face remained unfazed by her outburst.

"First, calm down. Cyanide poisoning is deadly because it stops the body's cells from being able to use oxygen, leaving them to die. Start by concentrating oxygen near his nostrils and mouth; then use your control over the oxygen to force it into the cells." Wendy did as she was instructed, calling in a gust of warm air full of the live-giving gas. After several moments of the glowing magic hovering over it, the small bunny began to taking longer breaths and stopped twitching. "This is also a test of stamina." The dragon slayer brought her eyes up to the fairy as her tiny body was already beginning to shake. "It shouldn't take too long, but you will need to hold it there until most of the cyanide has been metabolized."

The dragon slayer could already feel her muscles straining from their many previous days of hard training. Shimmering droplets of sweat began to slither down the skin of her arms and neck, leaving long tails behind as she started taking gasping breaths. Steadily, she watched as the small bunny's breathing finally returned to normal and it regained consciousness. Sitting up, the rabbit looked around before bending back down to start munch on bright grass. '_Oh, good. It looks like it'll be alright.'_ Wendy thought while she watched the small creature continue its meal.

"That should be enough." The fairy's voice cut through the silence and as soon as she heard it, the dragon slayer stopped using her healing magic. She collapsed forward with each of her hands landing heavily on either side of the bunny, startling it. Wendy took in long, deep breaths after closing her eyes as she leaned over the petite animal. "You did well. He will be fine." Ventus stated as the dragon slayer recovered from the straining use of magic.

Wendy raised her head to look at the fairy, her brown eyes slightly glazed. "It was still not kind of you to poison a helpless animal like that, Ventus-san." Even though she didn't appear very strong at the moment, her voice was held steady without a single waver in tone.

The air fairy let a small smile grace his lips. "It was foolish of you to assume that I was kind. Simply because I am a healer does not mean that I can not be cruel." He took a short pause. "Grandine-sama is the same way."

"How dare you!" All of the dragon slayer's exhaustion seemed to vanish in an instant. "My mom is kind!" She was now shouting at Ventus, whose glance remained unchanged.

"Perhaps to you and others she has deemed worthy of her kindness. I have seen her annihilate entire armies with a single sweep of her wings. Mercy is an ideal that you humans use to feel better when you can't take it on yourself to kill your enemy, it is not something dragons think of regularly." Hostile winds began to whip around the small girl and fairy as the anger in the air increased. The man's blue eyes stayed the same steely color. "Calm down. I do not wish to fight."

Wendy relaxed only the slightest. "Take back what you said." She ordered the fairy with a straight face as she had to look up for her eyes to reach his.

"I will not. It is a fact that you must understand. Just as good people can do cruel things, cruel people can appear good until the time their true nature is revealed." The small girl continued to glare at the fairy as he picked up the bunny and began to walk away through the lush grass.

"Then I won't listen to your lies." Wendy crossed her arms in front of her tiny chest as she continued to sit on the ground. Ventus turned back to look at her.

"Whether you heed my words or not is up to you, but you must come with me now. I was assigned to train you and that is what I will do." The fairy continued to walk in the direction he started, not stopping once after he heard the soft footsteps of a reluctant dragon slayer behind him.

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><p>"Achoo!" The pink-haired woman sitting at the bar let out a small sneeze, the noise of which was drowned out by all of the commotion going on in the guild.<p>

"Be careful not to catch a cold, Grandine. Wendy-chan will be coming back for her test in about a week." The barmaid warned as she continued to dry beer mugs that would definitely be re-filled later. "Or maybe a certain someone is gossiping about you?" A devilish grin crept to Mirajane's face as she leaned in toward the dragon.

'_I forgot, Mirajane is know as the 'Matchmaker' in Fairy Tail.' _"No, I sure that it was just a little sneeze, nothing more." She replied with a sheepish smile before slipping away from the bar into the crowd of mages. '_Actually, there was something I was wondering...'_ After safely making her way through the deathtrap that was the inside of the guild, she stopped in front of a wooden table. "Hey, Metalicana."

The iron dragon looked up from his hand of cards. He and Cana had been playing a variety of games all morning and surprisingly, kept a 50/50 ratio for the winner. "What?" His rough voice made him seem unfriendly, but the female dragon knew better than that.

"Do you know where Igneel is? I haven't seen him the past few days." Grandine had begun being worried after the second day of the fire dragon's absence, but hoped that they simply hadn't crossed paths recently.

"No." The grey-haired man responded before placing down his cards. "Pay up, little girl." An expression of shock plastered itself on the card mage's face as her own cards drifted slowly out of her and and onto the table.

The pink-haired dragon smacked Metalicana on the back of his head with her hand. "What do you mean 'no'?! This is serious!"

Grumbling, the man rubbed the spot that was impacted by the woman's swift hand. "I don't know where he is at this very moment, but he should be on his way back by now."

"What do you mean?" Her voice came out so softly that only the occupants of the table could hear her.

The other dragon let out a sigh. "He told me that he was going to his nest to get something important before Natsu got back from his training." He paused for a moment. "He also said that he told you and got your approval to go."

A low growl began to come from the female dragon as she begun to grind her teeth together. "Are you telling me that he lied and snuck out to his nest by himself?"

"He took Happy with him." The iron dragon offered to help calm down the woman before she decided to break something.

"That doesn't make it any better!" She shouted. "Doesn't that idiot understand how dangerous it is to go back to his nest while he's still a human?! Taking an exceed along doesn't help any, either!" Her fury had taken in all the attention the guild had to offer, so no one noticed when the orange-haired man with a blue cat sitting on his shoulder entered through the double doors.

"Hey, Happy," Igneel started whispering to the cat, taking note on the atmosphere of the room. "I'm just gonna leave these here and come back later when she's not as mad." The exceed nodded as the man slowly placed the canvas bag the he was carrying down on the floor. Unfortunately, just as the bag was almost completely out of his hand, its contents shifted, making a metallic clanking that echoed throughout the silent guild, causing all eyes to turn his way. "Uh, I'm back?" He said, with the saddest excuse for a smile on his face the guild had ever seen.

"Igneel," A pair of blood red eyes turned toward the fire dragon just as he began to run. "Get back here, now!" Grandine bolted after the man with deadly winds whipping behind her as she chased him out of the guild building. Happy had been smart enough to jump off of Igneel's shoulder just as he started to turned around to get away from the air dragon.

"I hope she isn't too hard on him." Lucy stated as she walked up next to the bag on the floor.

"Aye. That would be sad." Happy chirped before he let himself float down in the blonde mage's arms. "You should have come with us, Lucy. The sea was so pretty near Igneel's home." The cat's eyes glittered a little bit. "Filled with all kinds of fish."

The girl chuckled at the exceed's drooling mouth. "I'm sure it was, Happy." Her brown eyes shifted down toward the canvas bag that the dragon had brought into the guild. "By the way, what was so important for him to get that he would risk Grandine's wrath?"

"I think I have an idea." The last dragon that remained in the guild strode over to where the girl and the exceed were standing before bending down to open up the bag. "Looks like I thought right." From the fabric, Metalicana pulled out a pair of metal gauntlets that were clawed on the fingertips and long enough to cover the entire forearm of the bearer. The silvery material they were made out of caused the scales carved into them to seem to slither with under sunlight just below the surface.

"Weapons?" Lucy asked as she bent her knees to look at the things that had appeared from the bag.

"They look like they're made from dragon-forged steel." The guild's armor master had walked up behind the blonde mage and kneeled down beside her to get a closer view. "Did Igneel make these himself?" She asked the resident dragon.

"Yeah, a long time ago." Metalicana took a small pause. "The fact that he got these old things out means that he plans to take Natsu seriously."

Erza's dark eyes slid over to the dragon. "And what will be the outcome of that?"

"Well, first, it's promising because it means that Igneel respects his kid's strength enough that he thought he would need these, but on the other hand," He let out a sigh. "It means that the test will be a lot harder on Natsu."

"Will Natsu be alright?" Happy's worried eyes began to tear up as they looked at the dragon.

"Don't worry, little cat. I'm sure that everything will be just fine." Metalicana's rough voice made it seem as though his words held no kindness, but they were enough to help the blue exceed relax, but not the armor mage, who simply turned her head to look out the doors of the guild.

'_Even if everyone is able to walk away from these 'tests', will everything be able to go back to normal afterward?'_

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><p><strong>Well, that's all folks! I hope you enjoyed it. If anything was unclear, let me know. Oh! and be sure to read &amp; review!<strong>


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